By Politico Staff writer
The Sierra Leone Embassy in Berlin says based upon an agreement between the government of Sierra Leone and that of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Sierra Leonean side dispatched a team of experts from Sierra Leone to work with their German counterparts to identify ‘the origin of African Migrants deemed to be Sierra Leoneans and ultimately define their nationalities’.
According to a press statement signed by the Information Attaché at the Sierra Leone Embassy in Berlin, Idrissa Hilton Gogra ‘preliminary reports from the team of experts from Freetown indicate that 70% of those migrants especially those in detention are not Sierra Leoneans’.
The statement says that ‘the role of the team of experts in Munich has been misconstrued by social media commentators, but the embassy considers the verification exercise as invaluable to our beloved country and for innocent Sierra Leoneans living in Germany’.
Meanwhile, the embassy has also dispatched two diplomatic staff to Munich to convey the embassy`s position on the issue to the authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany’ and that the end of the verification exercise would enable the government of Sierra Leone undertake ‘further negotiation on the status of our citizens in Germany’.
According to the embassy ‘there are several African Migrants in Europe with Sierra Leone documents’ that are being treated as such but are ‘misrepresenting Sierra Leone in several ways. Recently a West African was charged with drugs related offences and was tagged Sierra Leonean. Investigations later revealed that he is not a Sierra Leonean’.
The embassy issued this clarification following days of frenzied social media activity among Sierra Leoneans mostly based in the diaspora accusing the government of Sierra Leone of colluding with the Federal Republic of Germany to deport hundreds of Sierra Leoneans based in that country.
A number of Sierra Leoneans protested in front of the Bavarian Office in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany.
Copyright © Politico Online 20/10/21
