Ghanaian fans ask for Brazil asylum

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) –
Some 200 Ghanaians in
Brazil for the World Cup have applied to stay
permanently citing religious violence back home,
police confirmed Friday, as Accra dismissed the
bid as baseless.
“Between July 3 and 10, 193 Ghanaians who
entered Brazil, for the most part with a tourist
visa, have asked for asylum in the police station
at Caxias do Sul,” a city in the southern state of
Rio Grande do Sul, a federal police spokesman

told AFP.
Accra, however, said the bid was not grounded
in fact.
“The basis for the alleged request for the asylum
is completely untrue,” Deputy Information
Minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu told Ghana’s
independent Citi FM radio station.
“You and I know that there is no known religious
conflict raging in this country at the moment.”
The make-up of the group — including the
religion and home regions of the individuals in
question — was not immediately clear. However,
they reportedly told Brazilian authorities that
inter-religious violence between rival Muslim
groups has made it unsafe for them to return
home.
The group has reportedly found shelter in a
Catholic church in Caxias do Sul, located in a
comparatively wealthy region.
More than 3,000 Senegalese and Haitians live in
the area and have also requested asylum, the
police spokesman said.
Ghana has been one of the most stable
countries in West Africa for more than two
decades and is not known to have any
significant religious violence.
Ofusu said Ghanaian diplomats in Brazil have
been instructed to work with local authorities to
investigate the situation but warned it would be
“surprising and unfortunate” should anyone
conclude that the asylum claim has merit.
Some, and possibly all, members of the group
traveled to Brazil as part of the government
delegation to the World Cup, officials said.
The asylum request is the latest off-the-pitch
scandal surrounding Ghana’s disastrous 2014
Cup performance.
For one, players demanded that more than $3
million in bonuses be flown to them in Brazil, an
embarrassingly public expenditure for Ghana’s
cash-strapped government.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Football Association
kicked key players midfielder Sulley Muntari and
striker Kevin-Prince Boateng out of the squad
before their final match amid.
The GFA alleged Muntari assaulted a staff
member and Boateng insulted coach Kwesi
Appiah.
The team’s preparations were also tainted by
allegations that a GFA official had agreed for the
national team to play in a game organized by
match-fixers.
The squad, which made the quarter-finals in
2010, finished at the bottom of their group.