Influx Of Refugees Has Overwhelmed Us - JAK

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Ruud Lubbers, yesterday conferred with President J. A. Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, on how to solve the refugee problems in West Africa.

Mr. Lubbers, a former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, is on a five-nation tour of the sub-region to draw attention to the gravity of the refugee problem in the area.

President Kufuor, told him that the almost 70,000 refugees in Ghana was a matter of concern to the government. He said wars and conflicts which are the main causes of the refugees problem, seemed to be reducing in the region. But there was still the need for the international community to assist to ensure that there was total peace.

Following the war in Cote d’Ivoire, he said ECOWAS sent over 1,700 soldiers to that country to keep the peace. Currently, he said it was becoming increasingly difficult for the sub-regional body to keep and maintain the forces in Cote d’Ivoire due to financial constraints.

Against that background, the President said Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Nana Akufo Addo, was leading ECOWAS Foreign Ministers on a tour of some developed countries to solicit for funds for the maintenance of the force in Cote d’Ivoire.

Responding, Mr. Lubbers noted that refugees had gone through a lot of problems and stressed the need for them to live peacefully in their host countries. He was particularly hopeful about finding solutions to the Ivorian and Liberian refugee problems which had compelled citizens of those countries to throng Ghana.

Mr. Lubbers also stressed the need for the refugees to take not of Act 2 of the 1951 Convention which deals with the status of refugees in their host countries. He said refugees have a duty to conform to the laws, regulations, and measures initiated by their host countries for the maintenance of law and order.