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Four Republican senators are calling for cutting foreign aid to Ghana if two former Guantanamo Bay prisoners who were transferred to the African nation escape or return to terrorism.

According to Fox News, the move marks a renewed effort by security-minded lawmakers to use the power of the purse to effectively pressure other countries considering taking Guantanamo detainees.

Senators seek foreign aid cut if ex-Gitmo inmates escape host country.

In the case of Ghana, the country earlier this month accepted two detainees from Guantanamo Bay, part of the Obama administration’s latest wave of transfers out of the prison camp.

The inmates in question, Yemeni detainees Mahmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef and Khalid Mohammed Salih al Dhuby, were transferred on Jan. 6.

Bin Atef is an admitted member of the Taliban and fought for Usama bin Laden, while al Dhuby trained with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The two inmates were the first of a group of 17 detainees expected to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay.

But the senators, in a letter Wednesday to key committee leaders, warned that Ghana may be ill-equipped to handle the prisoners.

“The [Ghana] prison system is plagued by decay and mismanagement,” Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; James Lankford, R-Okla.; and Steve Daines, R-Mont., wrote in the letter a copy of which was posted on the US Senate website.

They said they’re concerned about the government’s “capacity to hold, monitor and ensure these terrorist detainees do not reengage in terrorism against the United States and our allies.”

"We are grateful for Ghana’s friendship and the strong bilateral relationship between our two countries.  As members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, we have consistently voted to support foreign assistance to Ghana. However, with the U.S. Intelligence Community in agreement that 30 percent of the terrorists released from Guantanamo are known or suspected to have re-joined the fight against Americans, it is reckless to release more of these prisoners, particularly when the ability of the host country to hold and monitor these detainees is in doubt,” they wrote in the letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran.

To this end, they said it was necessary to caution Ghana that there will be repercussions if the two ex-detainees return to 'terrorism'. The caution, according to them, would encourage Ghana to keep the two on a tight leash.

R-Miss., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. asked that an upcoming appropriations bill include language cutting aid to Ghana by $10 million per detainee “in the event either of these detainees escapes from confinement or reengages in terrorism” while in their custody.

“We therefore request the Committee to include in the fiscal year 2017 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill, language that would reduce assistance to Ghana by $10 million per detainee in the event either of these detainees escapes from confinement or re-engages in terrorism while in Ghana’s custody.  Such language would incentivize Ghanaian authorities to allocate appropriate resources to closely and securely monitor the activities of these terrorist detainees,” they said.

The request could pose yet another complication as President Obama seeks to bring down the number of detainees at Guantanamo and ultimately shutter the camp, a goal many in Congress oppose. In the process, the administration has had to deal with countries that don’t typically take terror detainees, like Ghana.


Read the full letter below:


Dear Chairman Cochran and Chairman Graham:

We are concerned about the Administration’s transfer of two Guantanamo terrorist detainees to Ghana on January 6, 2016, and the Ghanaian government’s capacity to hold, monitor, and ensure these terrorist detainees do not reengage in terrorism against the United States and our allies.

As you know, the Administration transferred Yemeni detainees Mahmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef, a Taliban fighter and member of Osama bin Laden’s “55th Brigade” who threatened to cut the throats of American guards and their families upon release, and Khalid Mohammed Salih al Dhuby, an al Qaeda fighter in Afghanistan who reportedly threatened to kill guards at Guantanamo Bay, to Ghana after President John Dramani Mahama agreed to host them for two years.  While the Administration’s own Guantanamo task force neither cleared Atef and Dhuby of their involvement in terrorism nor recommend them for outright release, U.S. Embassy in Ghana spokesman Daniel Fennell inexplicably told Ghanaian media the “current assessment is that these two people coming to Ghana do not pose a security threat.”

President Mahama, who also maintains these terrorist detainees pose no threat, asserts they are housed safely on a security compound.  The security procedures for the terrorist detainees’ compound remain unclear, however.  What is clear is Ghana’s Foreign Ministry says their nation will accept the terrorist detainees “for a period of two years, after which they may leave the country.”

While Ghana has not previously held terrorist detainees, the nation’s prison system provides an illustrative indicator of the country’s limitations in credibly detaining and monitoring these hardened terrorists.  The prison system is plagued by decay and mismanagement.  The majority of Ghana’s prison facilities were constructed during the colonial era and lack the modern infrastructure required to hold inmates.  According to one third-party study, the country’s prison system operates at 145 percent capacity nationally, with some prisons operating up to 300 percent over capacity.  In recent years, 30 or more prisoners have escaped from Ghana’s prisons annually.  It is clear no facility in the world, let alone in Ghana, could detain terrorists as securely as Guantanamo.

We are grateful for Ghana’s friendship and the strong bilateral relationship between our two countries.  As members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, we have consistently voted to support foreign assistance to Ghana.  However, with the U.S. Intelligence Community in agreement that 30 percent of the terrorists released from Guantanamo are known or suspected to have re-joined the fight against Americans, it is reckless to release more of these prisoners, particularly when the ability of the host country to hold and monitor these detainees is in doubt.

We therefore request the Committee to include in the fiscal year 2017 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill, language that would reduce assistance to Ghana by $10 million per detainee in the event either of these detainees escapes from confinement or reengages in terrorism while in Ghana’s custody.  Such language would incentivize Ghanaian authorities to allocate appropriate resources to closely and securely monitor the activities of these terrorist detainees.

Thank you for your leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. We appreciate your consideration of our request.