Ghanaians' agonising deportations

By Raymond Archer, GIJ Intern

Accra - Several Ghanaians and nationals of other African countries living in Germany have been secretly arrested on unsubstantiated charges, tortured and deported to Ghana by the German Government in a joint agreement with Ghana Airways, the national carrier, and the Ghana Armed Forces, the Chronicle can reveal.

The deportees include nationals of Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal and Cameroon.

The deportation exercise, which started late last month, continues unabated as several Ghanaians and nationals of other countries are languishing in police cells in Germany awaiting their deportation to Ghana.

Those who arrived at 2:30am last week on December 4, spoke of ill-treatment at the hands of the German Polizei (German Police) who arbitrarily arrested many blacks on sight on charges of drug dealing and or engaging in some illegal activity.

Some of the deportees said tension is mounting in Germany among all blacks since the German police are indiscriminately arresting all blacks in Germany and deporting them to Ghana. Some street corners in key towns of Germany have marks like 'nigger raus', 'schwarz raus' which means blacks out! Xenophobia is still very much alive in Germany, Chronicle can report.

Some of them were picked at their work places, on the streets, and in their homes and as a result, could not retrieve any of their properties and monies lodged in German banks.

Not even those legally married to German nationals were spared in the ongoing raid as they were hunted down with loud protests from their wives.

Under the agreement of the deportation, the Ghana Armed Forces is to provide the escort for a token fee of ?80,000 per soldier per trip.

Wing Commander P. Fordjour, the officer in charge of the operation promised to give the Chronicle the exact number of people so far deported when he was reached on the phone Tuesday evening. But the number was not ready by press time Thursday afternoon.

Deprived of their monies, the destitute deportees begged for alms from the soldiers who escorted them to Ghana on December 4, to enable them go to their respective towns and villages in Ghana.

Even those who told the German authorities they were not Ghanaians were deported to Ghana. One of the ladies whom Chronicle gathered left Africa at the age of two years, was deported from Germany to Ghana and re-deported to Senegal at the insistence of Ghana Airways officials who had flown her from Germany even though she had told them that she was not a Senegalese.

The Chronicle learnt that upon reaching Senegal, she insisted she was not from there, prompting the Senegalese Immigration officials to refuse her entry.

She was flown back to Ghana on the same flight, and is now squatting at the precincts of the Kotoka International Airport.

Reached for comment the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the German Government did not consult them or the Ghana Mission in Germany.

However, some of the foreign deportees discounted this. They suspect that Ghanaian officials at the Ghana Embassy in Germany are aware of their deportation because it is impossible to deport someone into a country without the knowledge of the Embassy, they said.

But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted they were not consulted by the German Government and expressed outrage at the ongoing exercise.

An official of the Ministry described the ongoing exercise as a "very serious matter" because it has legal implications on International Immigration and Human Right Laws and fingered the German Government for lack of diplomacy.

Chronicle learnt that the Foreign Affairs Ministry is to summon an urgent meeting between the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Roads and Transport, the two ministries with responsibility for the Ghana Immigration Service and Ghana Airways respectively.