By Alagie Manneh
A total of Twenty-five Gambians in Germany, are set to be deported to The Gambia next month.
According to Germany-based Gambian refugee activist Yahya Sonko, in an exclusive interview with The Satndard, the deportation is officially scheduled for the 11 of November by both EU and their Gambian counterparts.
“This batch will comprise mainly of those alleged to have some criminal records from the different EU states, but there could be a few whose asylum applications have been rejected,” Mr Sonko told The Standard yesterday from his base in Germany.
He said both the EU and Gambia government officials have confirmed the operation take place on November 11.
A silver lining?
However, according to Mr Sonko, there is some good news about because there are talks about a possible moratorium on deportation, particularly for those with the requirements to apply for a permit through a new legislation coming into force next year.
“There will be a good number of Gambians who could benefit from this new law if implemented because there are thousands of Gambians here in Baden-Württemberg who have been here for more than five years and most of them are integrated in terms of the language, while others are in permanent good jobs and those are the requirements under the new law to be qualified to get at least a one-year residence permit for 2023,” Mr Sonko said.
There are almost 7,000 Gambians without residence rights in Germany alone, according to DW, and more than 2,000 of them have exhausted their asylum appeals in Germany and are awaiting repatriation.
