From: Benjamin Mensah, GNA Special Correspondent, Sirte, Libya

Sirte, July 6, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills last week-end said signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Ghana and the Gambia on the confirmed death of six Ghanaians in Gambian territory did not mean the case was closed on the remaining 38 that were yet to be found.

He explained that the MOU gave room for further investigation into the 38 Ghanaians whose whereabouts were yet to be established. In an interview with journalists at the end of the 13th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) at Sirte, Libya President Mills expressed concern about the rest, and said any fresh evidence on the matter would be looked into. On the sidelines of the Summit, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD and Dr Omar Alieu Touray, Gambian Foreign Minister signed the MOU following joint UN/ECOWAS Team Report that said six Ghanaians were killed and two disappeared.

President Mills expressed Government's sympathy with Ghanaians languishing in prisons in foreign countries and with reference to Libya, said he held discussions with the Libyan authorities for the possibility of securing their release.

On his impressions about the Summit, President Mills described it as successful, saying it tackled food security, which was one of the most important issues confronting the continent.

The Summit called on the leaders to modernise agriculture, improve the drug situation, and reached a major milestone in reaching a convergence on transforming the African Union Commission into an Authority.

President Mills described the formation of the Authority as step towards an eventual continental liberty.

He said Ghana invited the panel of eminent personalities for a peer review of Ghana for the second time, after the first about five years ago.

Consequently, Ghana was embarking on some reforms in line with the manifesto of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). Government, President Mills said, had consequently reduced the number of Ministries from 27 to 24 and Ministers from 88 to 75, and also abolished the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. Government was also taking steps to pass the Freedom of Information Bill, abolish executive endorsement of the budget of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice, and ensure that the Commission and some other democratic institutions defended their budgets in Parliament.

Government was also pursuing macro economic reforms to attract Foreign Direct Investment, as well as the establishment of Savannah Accelerated Development Agency towards poverty reduction in the three Northern Regions in Ghana.