-From Buduburam Camp next week
At long last, the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC) has disclosed that a Liberian Government Delegation is expected in Ghana on Monday, May 12, 2024, to finalize arrangements to repatriate 4,323 Stranded Liberians hopefully next week.
The mission of the delegation to Ghana is to commence the repatriation of stranded Liberians who are affected due to the demolition of the Buduburam Camp.
Upon their arrival in Ghana, and finalization of the arrangement, the LRRRC communication team confirmed to this paper that the delegation will return to Liberia along with stranded Liberians. “It will take the team three days to get to Ghana, so after arranging everybody, the team will come along with them. This might take three days after their arrival in Ghana.”
The delegation comprises the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Liberia Refugees Repatriation Resettlement Commission (LRRRC), the Ministry of Information Cultural Affairs and Tourism, the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, and the Liberia Broadcasting Cooperation.
LRRRC Executive Director, Patrick T. Worzie expresses deep appreciation to the Government and people of Ghana and says it is now time that Liberians return home in safety and dignity, and contribute to the development of the country.
Meanwhile, ED Worzie hails the Government of Ivory Coast for granting passage through their borders in bringing back home the stranded Liberians.
Upon their arrival, the stranded Liberians returning will be hosted temporarily in phases at the Regional Transit Center in CARI, Bong County where they are expected to be counseled before reintegration.
The stranded Liberians have been residing in Buduburam Camp, Ghana since the 1990 civil crisis, and are expected to return to one hundred host communities (100) in thirteen (13) counties of Liberia.
The Liberian Government through the LRRRC is appealing to humanitarian organizations, and local and international NGOs to provide support for the repatriation process.
Buduburam is a refugee camp located 44 kilometers (27 mi) west of Accra, Ghana. It is along the Accra-Cape Coast Highway.[1] Opened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1990, the camp is home to more than 12,000 refugees from Liberia who fled the country during the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996) and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003.[2] The camp is served by Liberian and international NGO groups and volunteer organizations. The Carolyn A. Miller Elementary School provides free education to nearly 500 children in the camp.
The UNHCR began pulling out of the camp in April 2007, slowly withdrawing all UNHCR-administered services. June 2010 was the official cessation of refugee status for the refugees in the settlement. Buduburam, located in Ghana, was established in 1990 to accommodate the influx of Liberian refugees who fled to Ghana when Charles Taylor came to power. Initially, the UNHCR provided the settlement’s residents with individual aid and relief.
In 1997, Liberia held elections that the UN judged to be fair enough to allow for safe repatriation conditions. As a result, the UNHCR discontinued refugee assistance to Liberians in Ghana, and the settlement lost much of its funding. During this time, an estimated 3,000 refugees returned to Liberia. Most chose to remain in Ghana, and the Buduburam settlement served as the center of their community.
Soon after the 1997 elections, the political situation in Liberia worsened, and fresh arrivals of Liberian refugees to Ghana led the UNHCR to return to Buduburam. Although the UNHCR limits its personal aid efforts in the settlement to unaccompanied minors, the elderly, and the disabled, the organization does sponsor infrastructure work within the community, funding projects such as construction and education.
Now host to over 42,000 refugees, most of whom are Liberian, the settlement still receives new refugees on a regular basis.
In February 2011, the Deputy Minister of Information in Ghana indicated that Buduburam is no longer needed and that the inhabitants should consider returning to Liberia or settling elsewhere in Ghana.[4]
Canadian soccer player Alphonso Davies was born in Buduburam in 2000 before moving to Edmonton, Canada at the age of five.
In 1967/1968, Sandeep Chowta, an Indian film music composer was born in Buduburam.
In 2008, the University of Alberta, in a collaborative initiative involving faculty, staff, and students, as well as camp musicians and a camp NGO (Center for Youth Empowerment) produced a music CD entitled Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees, featuring 16 Liberian musical groups then residing as refugees in Buduburam.
