Government has no official list of refugees in Togo- Interior Minister

Accra June 2, GNA - Mr Martin Amidu, Minister of the Interior on Tuesday said his sector ministry has

not obtained any list of registered Ghanaian refugees in Togo. He said until evidence of the number of verifiable registered Ghanaian refugees in Togo was obtained,

any figures given should be treated as speculative. Mr Amidu was presenting a statement on the floor of Parliament on the recent media report about

Ghanaian refugees in Togo. "We are not in the position to deny that some Ghanaians in fact crossed over to the Togo side of the

border in the heat of the conflict in Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District of the Northern Region," he said. He however noted that the conflict did not cover the whole of the District but was limited to only three

Bimoba clans - Dikporu, Nakuuks and Naadaungs who were fighting over a parcel of land at a village called

Tobong since January 2008. He said the recent conflict resulted in the burning of 368 houses, four deaths and a number of internally

displaced inhabitants. "There may be some Ghanaians still living with relatives in Togo. We are also not in a position to deny or

confirm," he said. He said the media publications about the situation were inconsistent with reports from the Ministry's

agencies on the ground and those of the District and Regional Security Council. The Minister said government had dispatched relief items to help the displaced persons, which include;

300 bags of maize, 300 bags of rice, 300 bags of beans, 100 cartons of soap, 100 cartons of cooking oil, 200

packets of roofing sheets, 5,000 mats and 1,000 pieces of mattresses. He said government was engaging Togo to have an amicable solution to the refugee problem. "We are working hard to resolve any misperception about.Ghanaian refugees in Togo has given rise to." Mr Amidu said a team of officers from the Ministry, UNHCR and UNDP left Accra on May 31 to join the

Regional Security Council and staff of the National Disaster Management Organisation in Tamale to visit the

conflict area. Mr Emmanuel Kwame Duut, Member of Parliament for Bunkpurugu- Yunyoo said the 3,500 refugees

reported by the media from the area was too high. He said the movement of people to Togo was a daily routine. Mr Ambrose Dery, Member for Nandom said government should adopt a communication system to ensure

the security of the people to avert serious ramification in future. Mr Rashid Pelpuo, Deputy Majority Leader observed that reports about conflicts painted the country

black.