Ghana evacuates nationals, fearing reprisals

Ghana said on Tuesday it was sending a warship and three planes to evacuate its citizens from Liberia, amid fears that they may be attacked by Liberians angry that the Ghanaian government refused to arrest Liberian President Charles Taylor during his flying visit to Accra last week. Taylor was indicted for war crimes by the UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone during his brief visit to Accra on June 4 for the opening of peace talks with rebels who now control most of Liberia. However, the Ghanaian government ignored a request by the court to arrest him and send him to Freetown. "There is a strong possibility of a backlash against Ghanaians in Liberia, where conditions are deteriorating rapidly because of the civil war. We have had several calls from Ghanaians saying their lives are being threatened," a spokesman for President John Kufuor told IRIN. He said the president had ordered a naval ship and three air force transport planes to Monrovia for the possible evacuation of Ghanaians caught up in the conflict. "It is a precautionary measure we are taking in case we quickly have to move our nationals out. I do not yet know the situation on the ground in Monrovia since it is very volatile," the spokesman said. He declined to say how many Ghanaians would be evacuated since "they are scattered all over the area especially in fishing communities. The plane can take about fifty people each while the ship can take larger groups of people." Several thousand people of Ghanaian origin are believed to live in Liberia. France evacuated 534 foreigners - mainly Europeans, Americans and Ivorian nationals - from Monrovia on Monday. They were transfered by military helicopters to a French warship which was expected to land them in Abidjan in neigbouring Ivory Coast on Wednesday.