The President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, who was briefed ahead of Ghana’s decision to host two former Guantanamo Bay detainees from the US, has said he felt the processes leading up to the move were necessary, despite their hosting being declared illegal by the Supreme Court in a recent judgement.
According to him, the deal was rushed and kept under wraps by the US for fear that the matter would become too political, in addition to further security concerns.
Shedding some light on the January 2016 transfer of the two Yemenis on , Mr. Cudjoe intimated that, the US government was trying to avoid ruffling any feathers within its Congress at the time, given the terror links of the two.
The two detainees, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby were under detention in US custody for 14 years after being linked with terrorist group Al-Qaeda.
“This decision was not taken lightly. In fact, one of the major reasons all of this was hurriedly done, and probably hushed, was because the United States government was worried that not even domestic lawmakers or advocates or civil society were going to be up in arms against it, but they were more worried about US lawmakers.”
He explained further that, at the time, there were some lingering doubts about the two former terror suspects and “some Congress people were going to go to whatever lengths within countries like Ghana and other places that had received these persons to still chase and argue that the United States government had committed acts of infamy.”
Another fear was that, the deal between Ghana and the US for the transfer “was going to be subjected to unnecessary security exposures which then would have consequences for countries they have relations with on a security level.”
“Those things plus the notion that the political leaders at the time in this country were briefed well in advance, was for me enough,” he stated.
Mr. Cudjoe was one of the key stakeholders briefed ahead of the arrival of the two Yemen nationals.
He admitted knowing about it on the show, saying, “in the heat of the public uproar, I was briefed. I got a call all the way from the States… I got two calls, one possibly just before they were brought, and another one when the matter became public as well,” Mr. Cudjoe said.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
