Monrovia – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the expulsion of two Liberian diplomats from the United Kingdom.
Report by Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
FrontPageAfrica first reported the declaration of the Mr. Jay Napoleon Toquie II and Mr. Chester Dweh Barh as persona non grata on Monday.
Mr. Toquie, II, was commissioned in 2007 by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the First Secretary and Consul of the Embassy of Liberia to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, while Mr. Barh serves as Counselor at the Embassy in London.
Reasons for their expulsion from the country were not provided, but a communication to Charge d’Affaires of the Liberian Embassy in London, Mr. Ibrahim Nyei, noted that the decision was in accordance with Article 9 (1) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 which gives the receiving country the right to declare any member of a foreign mission person non grata without providing explanations.
The letter to Mr. Nyei noted, “I am writing to formally inform you that Her Majesty’s government, in accordance with Article 9(1) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, has today, November 21, 2017, advised two members of your mission through writing that they are persona non grata with immediate effect from January 8, 2018.”
The letter was signed by Barry Nicholas of the Diplomatic Missions and Foreign Organizations Unit of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
In international relations, a persona non grata is a foreign person who’s entering or remaining in a particular country is prohibited by that country’s government. It’s an extreme condemnation a country can apply to a foreign diplomat, who is protected by immunity from arrest or prosecution.
In acknowledgement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a release issued on Tuesday said the Government of Liberia has taken note of the U.K government’s decision.
“In that light, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has begun to arrange the departure of the two officers, Mr. Jay Napoleon Toquie II and Mr. Chester Dweh Barh, Sr. and their respective families back to Liberia before the decision of the British government takes effect on January 8, 2018,” the ministry noted in the release.