Some Ghanaian prisoners granted amnesty by the Libyan Leader, Muammar-al-Gaddafi, have appealed for immediate repatriation to Ghana because the violent protests in Tripoli and Benghazi have been extended to the country’s prisons.
So far close to 200 people are reported dead since the protests against Col. Gaddafi’s four decade rule broke out last Wednesday. But the Ghanaian ex-convicts say the Ghana Embassy in Libya has turned a deaf ear to their plea for help and repatriation to Ghana.
But the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni says there is no immediate need for repatriation.
According to him, Ghana’s Ambassador to Libya, Mr. Hodari Okine in his latest comprehensive brief on the situation said Ghanaians in Libya are in no imminent danger.
Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni told Citi News Ghana’s Ambassador is in close contact with the Ghanaian community and also keeping an eye on the situation.
“The nature of the situation in Libya does not put Ghanaians and for that matter any foreign resident in direct danger as it is, because it is an internal matter involving mainly citizens of that country who have a bone to pick with their leadership and are calling for a regime change. In that way, it is only collateral danger that can come to a foreign resident and we don’t have any evidence that such thing has happened” he explained.
Meanwhile some Ghanaians resident in Libya told Citi News on Monday February 21, that black Africans were being attacked.
A man who gave his name as Yussif, told the Host of the Citi Breakfast Show, Bernard Avle, that Ghanaians and other black Africans have been chased out of their homes and places of work and in some cases their possessions taken away from them.
He thus appealed to the Ghanaian embassy to come to their aid.
The son of the Libyan leader, Sayf al-Islam, has warned that civil war could hit the country.
His comments came in a lengthy TV address to the nation broadcast as anti-government protests spread to the capital Tripoli.
Despite criticizing protesters, he also held out the promise of significant political reforms.
He admitted that the police and army had made “mistakes”, but said the death toll was far lower than reported. He said opposition groups and outsiders were trying to transform Libya into a group of small states. If they succeeded, he said, foreign investment would stop and living standards would drop drastically.
Sayf Gaddafi also criticized the foreign media for what he termed their exaggeration of the extent of the violence in Libya.
Earlier unconfirmed reports said Colonel Gaddafi had fled Libya, but his son told state TV viewers that his father remained in Libya “leading the battle”.
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No Need To Repatriate Ghanaians In Libya Yet – Foreign Affairs Minister