[COYOTE-L] Ghana: Germany alleged to torture and deport Africans
Antirassistische Gruppe
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Ghanaians' agonising deportations
By Raymond Archer
Ghanaian Chronicle, December 10, 1999
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.
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Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. N.W., Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
cen...@cis.org www.cis.org
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