I find it troubling, government’s decision to assist in the resettlement of refugees from and Rwanda and Ex-convicts from Guantanamo Bay.
According to a statement issued by Government of Ghana, government was approached by representatives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to resettle some of the persons who had been tried and had either been acquitted and discharged or had been sentenced and had served their time but did not find it appropriate to settle in Rwanda.
The statement further said that at the request of the US government, Ghana has accepted two detainees of Yemeni origin who were detained in Guantanamo but who have been cleared of any involvement in any terrorist activities and are being released. Ghana has indicated its readiness to accept these refugees and Ex-convicts.
To start with, this is far from good news. My beef is not with our African and Syrian brothers and sisters who have been affected by violence and uncertainties in their home countries by virtue of coalition forces illegal bombing of the latter for about eighteen months now which has resulted in the death of over two hundred and fifty thousand civilians killed and about eleven million more displaced.
My beef however is with the two ex-convicts from Guantanamo Bay. Ghana government says that these two persons, Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef and Khalid shaykh Muhammed have either been acquitted and discharge or might have served their full sentence. Either way, Ghana is in a mess.
The background of Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef, a 36 years old Yemen citizen suggest that he is a former fighter for Osama Bin Laden according to a December 28, 2007 intelligence report by the Department of Defense on the New York Times website. Osama Bin Laden was the founder of al-Qaeda, a terrorist a organization that has orchestrated numerous terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets including the September 11 attack on the U.S. The document further stated that Mahmmoud Omar is assessed to be a fighter in Bin laden’s (UBL) former 55th Arab Brigade and is an admitted member of the Taliban.
The Ex-convict participated in hostilities against U.S and coalition forces and continues to demonstrate his support for the UBL and extremism. He has also acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan to participate in Jihadist combat. The now citizen of Ghana, Omar’s name was found on a al-Quaeda affiliated document and has threatened to kill U.S citizens on multiple occasions with specific threat to cut their throats upon his release. Joint Task Force Guantanamo determined the detainee to be “a high-risk, as he is likely to post a threat to the U.S, its interests, allies, a high threat from a detention perspective and of medium intelligence value.
It should however be on record that the New York Times issued a disclaimer saying it could not independently verify some of the allegations many of which have been challenged by Omar and his lawyers, according to the Ghanaweb.
The second Ex Guantanamo convict a 34-year old Khalid Shaykh Muhammed who according to an obtained 2006 document on the New York Times website lived in Saudi Arabia his entire life although he has Yemen citizenship. According to the document he might have had his training in Afghanistan. In August2001, he began six weeks of training under the tutelage of an al-Qaeda trainer. The training consisted of familiarization with pistols, heavy machine gun, rocket – propelled grenade launcher and hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Upon arrest, he denied knowledge about Bin laden and his associates. Executive summary however assessed him to be a ‘probable member” at al-Qaeda. He withholds information of intelligence value and has familial ties to extremism. He was therefore determined to be a medium risk.
A statement by the U.S government through its embassy in Accra suggests that the transfer of the two Ex-convicts was in line with a policy to reduce the detainee population at the detention facility in Cuba and to close it in a “responsible manner”.
Clearly, these two ex-convicts have a bone to pick with the United States. There are numerous reasons why we Ghana should not have accepted this transfer. There is a however no good reason why government should take these prisoners.
The statement further read that “The decision to transfer a detainee is made only after detailed, specific conversation with the receiving country (in this case Ghana) about the potential threat a detainee may pose after transfer and the measures the receiving country will take in order to sufficiently mitigate that threat”.
In the year 2001, the U.S, with all the state of the art security mechanisms had to endure the September 11 attack. These attacks were a series of four well orchestrated terrorist attacks by al-Quaeda in mainland U.S, the Twin Towers New York. July 4, 2002 a terrorist attacks on the Los Angeles International Airport which left 2 dead and four injured. October 23, 2002, terror attack in Dubrovka Theater Russia by Islamist which left over 170 dead and 700 injured. May 12, 2003-The Znamenskoye suicide bombing which killed 59 people and injured 200 more. February 2004-The Moscow Metro bombing which left 41 killed and 120 injured. August 31, 2004– Another Moscow Metro bombing with 10 killed, 50 injured. September 1 – 3, 2004, Beslan school hostage crisis leaving about 344 civilians including 186 children killed.
July 7, 2005 – multiple bombing in London underground which left 53 killed and nearly 700 injured. And it goes on and on, not to mention Charlie Hebdo and the recent Paris attacks.
Ghana on the other hand has no such security capabilities as the above mentioned superpowers. Ghanaians are already dealing with a crippling economy and other socio economy challenges and are not ready to add terrorism. The above reasons are why we should not have accepted these two prisoners
In conclusion, the U.S government should have no moral right to come to Ghana with such a reckless proposition. Ghana government on the other hand should have known better. This act of vassalage, however, may be the beginning of terrorism in Ghana.
Michael Tawiah Bortei
[email protected]
Hunted land
There lies a land in the tropics
under the tree of the blacks,
A land living on the west of the darks
Whereas north, east and west borders land of its kind,
the south faces the Gulf of Guinea with the liberation arch
A land at the immediate north of the equator.
There lies a land with the intelligentsia
at the helm of affairs
Yet the prevalence of rainy days, ballooned
charge for groundwork and underpinnings,
economic pandemonium and sporadic utilities:
The gruesome state of affairs.
A land captained by civilised kleptomaniacs
and egocentric intellectuals with the sweat of a critical bourgeoisie
and a disgruntled proletariat on the boulevard at hopelessness,
The judicial lords, representatives of the Most High
and the hope of redress are a party to the unpatriotic affairs,
And the men of high condition they control
the lucrative underground economy,
And the potentates are like a God
for they cannot be punished,
And one can see a land bleeding from corruption
yet begging from the white folk.
There lies a land with metropolitan establishments
But, an epitome of inefficiency,
And so her statecraft represents her inefficacy,
At the helm are the corrupt and the doers of criminality;
characters of unexpectancy,
With the Presence of the feeble law,
the corrupt comes and goes with impunity,
And on one can see a land bleeding from corruption yet begging from the white folk.
There lie a people with a great lack of civic duty,
A one that loots from the needy,
The selfish with the unpatriotic abilities,
The good becomes the patsy,
On the self-inflicted land.
Michael Tawiah Bortei