Over 850 Togolese refugees return home from Ghana

Hundreds of Togolese who fled to Ghana after last month's presidential election have begun heading home, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday.

At least 850 Togolese have already gone back to Lome, capital of their country, said Jennifer Pagonis, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to the statistics of the UNHCR, at least 23,300 refugees fled Togo amid chaos and violence in the country since April 26 when the provisional results of the April 24 presidential election were announced. About 12,483 of them headed to Benin, east of Togo, and the rest went to Ghana.

But the flow of Togolese refugees into Ghana has slowed down, with new arrivals of less than 200 in recent days, Pagonis further noted.

Only nine Togolese refugees arrived in Ghana crossing over the border and 162 in Benin on Monday, Pagonis said.

Many of those in Ghana have been staying there overnight with family and friends but returning by day to work in Lome, which is next to the border, Pagonis said.

In Benin, however, the UNHCR has housed many refugees in camps and none have told the agency they want to go back to Togo.

On Monday, Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Biossey Kokou Tozoun visited Benin specially for the refugee issue.

During his meeting with President of Benin Mathieu Kerekou, Tozoun expressed gratitude for the assistance provided by Benin to the Togolese refugees. He also took the chance to urge the Togolese refugees there to return to their homeland where order has been restored.

Faure Gnassingbe, son of Togo's late president Gnassingbe Eyadema, was declared provisional winner of the presidential election two weeks ago, prompting a surge in civil unrest in southern and central towns of the nation of 5 million people, as the opposition and militant supporters claimed the poll was rigged.

Gnassingbe was formally installed in office last week.