Third batch of Ghanaians arrive from Libya

Accra, March 4, GNA - The third batch of Ghanaian evacuees arrived in Accra from Libya, where the country is reeling in deadly political impasse. The evacuees, all males and numbering 102, arrived aboard a commercial Egyptian flight.

Baba Jamal, Deputy Minister of Information who was part of the government delegation at the Kotoka International Airport to meet the evacuees, told journalists that two chattered flights were expected to bring in more Ghanaians later.

He said at the moment, 1,400 Ghanaians were being moved to the Libya-Egypt border to be evacuated.

"Besides that, 600 Ghanaians are being processed to be brought down. The government would not rest until every single Ghanaian is brought back from Libya," he said.

Touching on the fact that the majority of the evacuees were from the city of Benghazi, Mr Jamal said the exercise would be extended to those in the Libyan capital- Tripoli and other towns. Mr Chris Kpodo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, who is also the Head of the task force set up by the government to over-see the evacuation exercise, said it was very important for Ghanaians who travel to other countries to register with the local embassies.

"That makes it much easier for you (evacuees) to be helped when crisis like this occur," he said.

"Whether you were in Libya legally or not does not matter now. The government is bent on ensuring you are brought back safely, once you are a Ghanaian."

Mr Kpodo described the situation in Libya as a national emergency and said it was time for all Ghanaians who could assist in the evacuation process to do so as early as possible. The arrival of the third batch makes the total number of Ghanaians who have been brought down from Libya 252. The first batch was brought down last Saturday, February 26. Meanwhile, a six- member team which was put together by the government, left Accra for Cairo last night, to augment the Evaluation Liaison Post at Salum, a border post on the Egypt-Libya border, to co-ordinate the evacuation of Ghanaian nationals from Libya. Stranded Ghanaian nationals in Libya are assembled at the Salum border post, where they are being processed and transported with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration and the Egyptian security agencies.