Refugees Stream Into Ghana From Cote d'Ivoire

Refugees Stream Into Ghana From Cote d'Ivoire

Ghana has announced that 558 Ghanaians and 20 Ivorian refugees have arrived at the Central Region of Moree by boat, from troubled neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire .

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in collaboration with the local offices of the National Disaster Management Committee, (NADMO), in Accra has erected tents at Moree purposely to register and screen such persons before their integration into Ghanaian communities.

NADMO said 271 males, 235 females and 72 children had been duly registered but nine males, all of Ivorian origin, have since gone back to Cote d'Ivoire to bring back their valuables.

The District Coordinator of NADMO, Mr. Benjamin Benson, said that so far five of the refugees had tested positive to HIV/AIDS while an unspecified number of them had contracted tuberculosis.

All the affected people have been referred to doctors.

Benson said the registration of the returnees started on January 23  and measures were being put in place to accommodate the returnees along the coastal stretch of the Moree Region.

According to him, many others are still held behind troubled lines in Cote d'Ivoire due to their inability to afford the 5,000 and 1,500 francs for boat and bus fares respectively.

PANA/NAN/Margaret