Liberian refugees to return home by June 30
The United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNHCR has rolled out a programme to end the legal status of refugees across the continent. The international community will invoke the cessation clause of the 1951 convention for Liberian, Angolan and Burundian refugees on June 30, 2012.
Refugees from Rwanda would have until June 30, 2013 to return home.
Nearly 4 million citizens from Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi and Angola were affected in series of conflicts that ravaged the African continent.
Thousands of people fled to neighboring countries to seek refuge.
But as the countries gain full stability, the international community is ending their statuses as refugees.
In Ghana some eleven thousand Liberian refugees are to be repatriated home under the programme.
Spokes person for the UNHCR in Ghana, Awurabena Hutchful says the purpose of the programme is because the international community has recognized some progress being made in Liberia since 2005.
She says it is important for Liberian refugees to see some end to the refugee status.
“It is important that people have some sense of prominence when it comes to their legal status,” she added
But for many refugees, returning home is not safe. 62 year old Joseph, a presidential aid during Charles Taylor’s attempt to overthrow Samuel Doe in 1989, says after 21 years he believes the situation that prompted his escape still remains in Liberia.
He is one of many who may just opt to amend their residential status and continue to live in Ghana.
The camp, however, will be close down after the June 30 deadline.
By: Fred Kuuku Smith, e.tv Ghana
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