Gov’t Will Evacuate Ghanaians In Egypt When The Need Arise - Okudzeto

More countries are sending planes to evacuate their citizens from the unrest in Egypt, as leaders from around the world call on President Hosni Mubarak in order to seek a peaceful resolution to the week-long anti-government protests. President Hosni Mubarak, clinging to power despite unprecedented demands for an end to his 30-year rule is widely seen as holding the key to Egypt's future. But through all these, the Government of Ghana has not made a statement on the situation and whether or not there are any plans to evacuate Ghanaian residents in Egypt. A Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in an interview on Citi News reiterated that government is closely monitoring the situation in Egypt. According to him, reports from Egypt indicate that Ghanaians have not been targeted in the impasse. “We are closely monitoring the situation and we receive up to the minute brief from our mission in Egypt. It would be important to point out that our mission is still open and running and so Ghanaians still have access to their services,” he said. He disclosed that government has put in place adequate contingency plans to evacuate all Ghanaians in Egypt when the need arises, emphasizing that there are scientific ways of monitoring if Ghanaians are targeted. “It is also important to stress at this stage that it does not appear that Ghanaian nationals have been targeted and so we are quite happy about that. There is a contingency plan that we have but at this stage Ghanaians would not be evacuated from Egypt because they have not been targeted. No Ghanaian would be evacuated at this moment,” he stated. He however assured all Ghanaians living in Egypt and has relatives in Egypt that government will evacuate them if anything should come up.