Fifty-four additional Ghanaian students arrived in Accra today, Monday, March 7, from Ukraine as part of the government’s evacuation efforts.
This is the sixth group to return home, raising the total number to more than 150 Ghanaians, according to TV3’s Martin Asiedu Darteh, who was at the Kotoka International Airport.
In welcoming the students, the Government spokesperson on Governance and Security, Palgrave Boakye Danquah, stated that around 300 students from Ukraine should be in Accra by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has stated that Ghanaian nationals who do not accept the offer to be evacuated from Russia-invaded Ukraine will be on their own.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Government will not be responsible for those who decline the opportunity to be evacuated,” the Ministry said in a statement on Saturday, March 5.
Since Russian soldiers entered Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, the government has reacted to demands from stranded Ghanaians, particularly students, to be brought home.
The majority of them were assisted in relocating to neighboring countries such as Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, where they were visited by both the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and a Deputy Foreign Minister, Thomas Mbomba.
However, a number of them chose to stay in the war-torn Eastern European nation rather than return home.
Despite a commitment to evacuate Ghanaians in neighboring countries and those still trapped in Ukraine, the Ministry stated that “the government will only evacuate Ghanaian nationals who are willing to avail themselves of the evacuation exercise and return to Ghana.”
So far, 74 Ghanaian nationals have been successfully evacuated, as of Saturday, March 5.
Read Also: Coups have no place in Ghana; we’ll resist attempts of military takeovers – President Akufo-Addo
SOURCE: 3NEWS
