by CARLOS ATWELL

IF GOVERNMENT CANNOT persuade the stranded Africans to register themselves, "other methods" will have to be taken.

In addition, any Barbadian found guilty of harbouring any of the men could face punishment.

While not identifying what those "methods" would entail, Attorney General Freundel Stuart said Barbadians had a vivid imagination so they could guess what he was talking about.

Stuart was speaking to the Press after the closing ceremony of a Caribbean Centre for Conflict Management workshop yesterday at the Amaryllis Beach Resort, Hastings, Christ Church.

The Attorney-General warned there were laws which dealt with harbouring [fugitives] which would be enforced if necessary.

Despite this, Stuart said he was "optimistic" the men would see the "wisdom in co-operation" and "heed the call of their compatriots.

"It would be a strain on taxpayers for us to charter a plane for them and all of them are not there. When they go, there must not be any residue of the problem remaining.

"We are continuing to get increasing co-operation and we have relaxed some of the initial restrictions after interactions with groups [concerned about the situation]," he said.

As for the plane, Stuart said that still remained their biggest problem but said those negotiations were at an "advanced stage", adding a date should be confirmed shortly as Cabinet had again discussed the issue on Thursday.

The 66 Ghanaians and 30 Nigerians who arrived in Barbados February 1 on an inaugural Ghanaian Airlines flight from West Africa were left stranded after their return flight never came back to Barbados on February 15 as scheduled.

The men had started working on construction sites without work permits and were eventually asked by Government to turn themselves in so they could be processed at Paragon military base.

Thirty-four men were initially housed, with another 26 joining them. After a request by the People's Empowerment Party and the Barbados chapter of the Global Afrikan Congress (GAC) to grant the Africans temporary release, the men were allowed to leave the base between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m daily.