300 Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa touch down in Accra
The first group of Ghanaians brought home from South Africa as part of a government-led repatriation exercise has landed safely at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport on Wednesday, May 27, arriving aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
The touchdown marks the opening phase of an operation designed to bring back Ghanaian nationals who found themselves caught in a fresh wave of xenophobic hostility and violence directed at foreign communities in parts of South Africa.
Approximately 300 evacuees were on the initial flight and were welcomed on the tarmac by senior government officials, among them Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Chief of Staff Julius Debrah, who led the official reception at the airport.
Minister Ablakwa had previously outlined that the support being extended to returnees forms part of an immediate humanitarian response, with a more comprehensive reintegration package currently being developed by government.
That broader plan is expected to encompass financial assistance, help with business registration, and livelihood programmes designed to give evacuees a meaningful footing as they rebuild their lives back home.
The repatriation exercise is being managed through Ghana’s diplomatic mission in Pretoria in close collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, following mounting alarm over the wellbeing of Ghanaian communities in South Africa.
Reports of escalating intimidation and sporadic attacks on foreign nationals had prompted large numbers of Ghanaians to come forward and register for assisted return.
Government has confirmed that additional flights carrying further batches of evacuees are expected in the days ahead as the exercise presses on.
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