Liberians stranded in Ghana

Some 117 people, most of them Liberians, were stranded aboard a cargo ship at the port of Tema, about 25 km east of the Ghanaian capital, Accra, after the vessel's captain refused to sail, a humanitarian source in Accra told IRIN on Friday. According to the source, the group included Liberians, some of whom had fled the towns of Guiglo and Danane in western Cote d'Ivoire, where there had been fighting in recent weeks between rebels and loyalist Ivorian forces. They also included a few Ghanaians and a Nigerian. The group had obtained valid travel documents from the Ghanaian authorities and had paid a middleman money for tickets for the three-day journey to the Liberian capital, Monrovia. The go-between, who had since disappeared, had given the impression that he was sending bags of rice - not passengers - by the ship, the MV Mari, news organisations reported. "We were made to believe that the charterers were sending bags of rice," the Deutsche Press-Agentur (dpa) quoted Emmanuel Brown Gbatley, operations manager of the Nordic shipping lines that owns the MV Mari, as saying. Gbatley added that the ship was a cargo vessel that could not carry more than 20 passengers. The humanitarian source said the captain refused to leave Tema, saying the ship was not equipped to transport passengers. To do so, would require enough water, personnel, medicines and doctors, food, and other amenities, he said, adding that the passengers would need deck certificates. "Passenger deck certificates being a regular requirement for travel by ship can be easily obtained from the Ghanaian authorities," the source said. Negotiations were going on and the company was also looking into ways to help the passengers but it could take a day or two before they finally left, he said. "In the meantime, the passengers are free and they move in and out of the ship to buy their food from the nearby markets. The main concern, especially of the captain, the shipping line and the authorities, is that they can be transported in respect of travel regulations under proper and dignified conditions," he said.