All 26,967 Liberian refugees resident in the country are to be repatriated to Liberia by the Government of Ghana for them to rebuild their country.

The repatriation exercise, which will be sponsored by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), is expected to start after Friday, April 4, 2008.

 In the interim, all Liberian refugees at the Buduburam settlement will be dispersed and settled in smaller communities for better management and monitoring.

The Minister of the Interior, Mr. Kwamena Bartels, who announced this in Accra yesterday when he met the press at the Ministry of Information, said the government will no longer tolerate the situation where people who had been warmly received in the country continued to undermine the security of the state.

“Our national security is supreme and shall not compromise on any account.
Besides, refugees have a responsibility to respect our laws, as well as refrain from subversive activities against the state,” he stated.
He said the government was aware of the presence of a number of ex-combatants at the Buduburam settlement and would not sit down unconcerned for the security of the country to be jeopardized.

Mr. Bartels said the government had held a meeting with a high-powered delegation of the Liberian government, during which the government’s position was made clear to the Liberians and they agreed that a tripartite committee made up of representatives of the governments of Ghana and Liberia, as well as the UNHCR, be set up to work out the practical modalities for the repatriation.