Budumburam Liberian Camp Demolition put on hold; gov't to move Refugees Elsewhere

• The demolition of the Budumburam Liberian Refugee Camp has been put on hold indefinitely
• Plans are underway to relocate the about 400 Liberians in the camp to a camp in the Western region
• They will be moved once the shelters in the Western region are ready to be occupied

The planned demolition exercise of the Gomoa Budumburam Liberian Refugee Camp has been put on hold indefinitely.

This is to give the Ghana Refugee Board (GRB) some time to evacuate about 400 Liberian refugees to another camp in the Western region.

In a report filed by Graphiconline.com, the Executive Secretary of the GRB, Tetteh Padi, said the refugees would be evacuated to a refugees camp in the Western Region once the shelters being renovated for occupation were ready.

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The report, however, did not state when the renovation works would be completed or how soon the camp in the Western Region would be ready to be occupied.

Padi said the grace period given is also to give residents of the area some time to relocate to other places.

Padi said the government was sensitive to the fact that the people, who were all not necessarily refugees, had lived at the camp for years and needed to be given some time to pack out.

He, however, gave the assurance that the demolition exercise will be eventually carried out.

Why will the camp be demolished?

The District Chief Executive, (DCE) for Gomoa East, Solomon Darko-Quarm, said the demolition of the camp is in response to a request by the chiefs over the increasing criminal acts in the area.

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Darko-Quarm said the demolition would pave the way to redevelop the area to befit the district’s status as the gateway to the Central Region.

“It has become a fast-growing community which needs social and economic amenities to befit its status,” the DCE said.

When was the Budumburam camp created?

Budumburam is a refugee camp in the Gomoa East district and located along the Accra-Cape Coast Highway.

It was established in 1990 to accommodate the influx of Liberian refugees who fled to Ghana when Charles Taylor came to power.

It was opened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1990 as a home to more than 12,000 refugees from Liberia who fled their country during the first and second Liberian civil wars

The UNHCR began pulling out of the camp in April 2007, slowly withdrawing all UNHCR-administered services.

In February 2011, the Deputy Minister of Information in Ghana indicated that Budumburam is no longer needed and that the inhabitants should consider returning to Liberia or settling elsewhere in Ghana.

Source: YEN.com.gh