Ghana takes in ex-Guantanamo Bay, Rwandan detainees

According to him, the U.S. government will bear the cost of the upkeep of the two former Guantanamo detainees.

This marks the first time Ghana has taken a detainee from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.

“Many countries have already taken people in such situations so it’s not out of the ordinary”, Ghana’s Communications Minister Edward Boamah told Reuters.

The detainees were transferred to Ghana January 6, 2016.

Ghana’s foreign ministry said that all those being allowed into the country will have their activities monitored.

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter recently approved the transfer of 17 Al-Qaeda followers from Guantanamo Bay.

Once the 17 prisoners are transferred, there will be 90 detainees remaining at Guantanamo – marking the first time in a decade the population at the prison has been below 100.

She explained that the U.S. government will bear all cost for their reintegration whilst Ghana bears no liability.

“The United States is grateful to the government of Ghana for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing USA efforts to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility”, a Pentagon spokesman, Cmdr. The conditions of their release require them to stay in Ghana for two years, after which they will be able to leave the country and travel to any destination of their choosing.

The detention center at Guantanamo Bay was established in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States as a place to detain individuals believed to be connected with the attacks who were captured by USA forces in military operations in Afghanistan or counter-terror operations elsewhere.

Some of the claims in the leaked dossiers have been contested by detainees or their lawyers or undercut by other evidence. They are the first detainees to be sent to a sub-Saharan country. Neither was ever charged with a crime.

Military records say Bin Atef was wounded in a bloody uprising while he was held as a Northern Alliance prisoner near Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, a battle in which a Central Intelligence Agency officer was killed. The dossier does not accuse Mr. Bin Atef of personal involvement in the C.I.A. operative’s death.

After the resettlement, 105 detainees remain at Guantánamo, and 46 are recommended for transfer.