The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has debunked media reports suggesting that Ghana was engaging with the UK government so that the UK can “send migrants to countries such as Rwanda and Ghana for processing and resettlement”.
Some UK newspapers on Tuesday reported details of a document dubbed “Operation Dead Meat”, which contains among others, a measure supposedly being drawn up by UK authorities to send migrants to countries such as Rwanda and Ghana for processing and resettlement.
Mail online for instance reported that asylum seekers ‘could be flown to Rwanda and Ghana for processing’ under ‘Operation Red Meat’ plans to tackle illegal migrant Channel crossings as Boris Johnson calls in the RAF and the Royal Navy to deter the journeys from France.
UK Ministers are said to be drawing up proposals which, would see people arriving illegally in the UK sent abroad for processing and resettlement.
Home Secretary Priti Patel and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss are in talks about ‘outsourcing’ the asylum process to other countries, according to The Times.
The arrangements would see the UK pay another nation to take on the responsibility but no country has so far agreed to do so.
It was reported in November 2021 that Albania was being considered as one potential destination but those talks are said to have collapsed.
Mail Online reported that Downing Street would not be drawn on the plans as the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said it was ‘not helpful’ to discuss negotiations with countries.
Ghana’s reaction
But reacting to the media reports in a press statement Tuesday afternoon [January 18, 2022], Ghana’s Foreign Ministry said “Ghana has not engaged with the UK on any such plan and does not intend to consider any such operation in the future.”
“It is recalled in this regard that the Ministry on the 8th of September, 2021 debunked in a tweet a news item on Sky News UK about a possible Ghana interest in a partnership agreement with the UK to host deported or returned migrants of Third countries from the UK.”
“This position of the [Ghana] government has not changed and the Ministry advises that any publication implies otherwise should be ignored,” the statement indicated.
Source: graphiconline.com