A Ghanaian ship has been prevented from docking in Benin’s main port Cotonou since June 7, stranding 170 passengers on the vessel in Benin’s territorial waters, the harbour master’s office said on Friday. “The ship, called Alnar, is currently in Benin’s territorial waters with 170 passengers on board,” adding that “for the moment, this ship is not authorised to dock in the Cotonou port.” The captain of the ship, which left Tema in Ghana, has asked for permission to dock, the office said. There was no information available on the nationality of the passengers, but the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has asked for permission to send representatives on board to verify whether the passengers are refugees. There was no information immediately available on why the ship was not allowed to dock. In April, Benin authorities were criticized after a Nigerian-registered ship offloaded 43 people, 23 of them children, after spending two weeks at sea, following rejection of docking requests in Gabon and Cameroon. Some of them were sold into clandestine child labour, a UN report said, provoking an international outcry over child slavery. – AFP
Friday June 15, 2001