APA – Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) More than 2,000 Burkinabe are seeking refuge in Ghana because of the security crisis, according to humanitarian aid workers.
On Tuesday, Ghana launched a repatriation operation targeting Burkina Faso nationals, APA has learned from reliable sources.
The operation is being carried out by the army in communities in the north of the country, on the border with Burkina Faso, our sources said.
“Soldiers raided town centres, markets and camps in search of Burkinabe nationals to arrest,” explained Ghanaian journalist Alhaji Gbangbanku on Twitter.
The soldiers then carried out checks, after which a large number of Burkina Faso nationals were taken in minibuses to a centre where they would be deported to their country of origin, added the journalist, who is very familiar with security issues in Ghana.
In two 12- and 15-second videos seen and authenticated by APA from several sources, women, children and men, clearly from the Peulh community, can be seen sitting under tin sheds in front of minibuses, ready to be repatriated from Ghana.
Identified as Burkinabe, they are accused of having “entered Ghana illegally.”
“If you don’t have a Ghanaian card or a refugee card, or if you don’t speak one of the languages spoken in Ghana, you go back to where you came from,” said a military source involved in the operation.
No official in Burkina Faso has commented.
At the beginning of July, Ghana opened a reception centre with a capacity of 4,000 places for Burkinabe refugees, according to Radio France Internationale (RFI).
According to the Ghana Refugee Board (BRD), the country has registered 3,200 asylum seekers from Burkina Faso.
As a result of the security crisis, thousands of Burkinabe have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
At the end of October, 943 Burkinabe refugees were registered in Benin, 4,958 in Togo, 4,042 in Cote d’Ivoire, 2,000 in Ghana and 2,458 in Mali, according to a UN report.
SD/ac/lb/as/APA