Benin & Liberia
Liberian refugee boat continues odyssey

afrol News, 19 June - The ship carrying some 180 Liberian refugees that was stranded off the Beninese coast for ten days now reportedly is heading on for Nigeria. After the Liberians earlier had been refused to enter Ghana, now also Beninese officials had denied them refuge.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, "learned this morning that the ship with about 150 Liberians which has been stranded off West Africa for more than 10 days, left Benin's territorial waters last night around 18:00 local time, after being denied permission to dock," spokesman Kris Janowski today told journalists in Geneva. While the UN agency assumes there are 150 persons aboard, other sources claim it carries 186 passengers, 79 of them children.

The boat was reportedly headed towards neighbouring Nigeria. The ship had been waiting offshore for authorisation to disembark its passengers, mostly Liberians, who had already been refused entry into Ghana last week, after leaving Monrovia the week before. 

UNHCR on Monday obtained authorisation to visit in order to interview the passengers and assess their status and possible claims for asylum. "However, by the time the authorisation came, the boat was already on its way out," Janowsky said. 

- UNHCR suspects that some of the passengers may be refugees and remains very concerned, the UNHCR spokesman stated. "It is important that a quick solution be found before the conditions on the boat deteriorate."

Beninese government officials have not wanted to comment on the affair of the ship 'Alnar Stockholm', which never received a permission to dock in the Cotonou harbour. No statements have been made. "One is very careful after the Etireno affair," captain Guéou, a responsible in the Cotonou harbour told the French news agency AFP, referring to the scandal ship Etireno, carrying child slaves earlier this year. 

- We don't understand anything of what is happening here, a harbour agent, who insisted on his anonymity, told AFP. The harbour workers seemingly had not received any information from government officials, which on 11 June denied 'Alnar Stockholm' to dock.

Last week, the UNHCR had "insisted on access" to the passengers to establish whether they included refugees in need of international protection. Beninese government officials delayed their permission to enter for one week, obviously keeping the reaction of the Ghanaian government to the ship's arrival in mind. 

'Alnar Stockholm' on 10 June was allowed to dock in Ghana where Ghanaian citizens, as well as some Nigerians and Sierra Leoneans, were allowed to disembark. Liberians were however turned away because they did not have proper travel documents. Neither UNHCR nor the Ghanaian Refugee Commission were able to access the group of Liberians, before the ship was ordered to leave the harbour of Tema, east of Accra, and headed for Benin.

Sources: Based on UN sources, AFP and afrol archives

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