Ghana acquired a fleet of 100 armoured automobiles from the European Union on Saturday as a part of elevated support for border safety to coastal West African nations going through spill over from the Sahel area’s jihadist conflicts.
Ghana, together with Gulf of Guinea neighbours Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast, are more and more in danger from violence within the Sahel particularly after coups in Burkina Faso and Niger the place the junta has demanded the withdrawal of French troops there.
After assembly with President Nana Akufo-Addo in Accra, EU overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell stated 105 armoured automobiles delivered to Ghana had been a part of support that may later embrace aerial surveillance tools and digital warfare techniques.
“The spill over of insecurity from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea international locations shouldn’t be a threat anymore. It’s — sadly — a actuality. A actuality that our companions can’t — and mustn’t — face alone,” he stated.
Borrell stated EU funding would additionally goal job creation and providers particularly in northern Ghana the place there are considerations jihadists search to reap the benefits of ethnic tensions and financial dissatisfaction to recruit Ghanaian youth.
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In a press release, the EU stated the Ghana support was a part of a broader 616 million euros bundle to strengthen defence and safety of the 4 coastal international locations of the Gulf of Guinea.
Whereas Ghana has not but reported any jihadist assaults inside its territory, Benin’s army say they’ve confronted round 20 incursions from throughout the border since 2021. Togo has additionally suffered assaults on its northern frontier.
Earlier this 12 months, Ghana despatched 1,000 extra troops and police to the northern space of Bawku to strengthen safety after gunmen killed an immigration officer and wounded two others close to the border with Burkina Faso.
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Officers didn’t blame any group for the assault however Bawku, in Ghana’s Higher East area, faces a simmering ethnic chieftaincy dispute that usually flares into violence.
Gunmen just lately killed 9 folks after they opened hearth on a bus in a northern Ghana district near the border with Burkina Faso and Togo.
France has begun to withdraw its 1,500 troops from Niger after coup leaders there demanded they finish their anti-jihadist deployment. That has left questions over France’s safety technique in Africa, but in addition about rising Chinese language and Russian affect within the area.
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“In the event that they don’t need the French troops to be there then they’ll go away. I’m wondering who’s going to take their place, the Russian mercenaries?” Borrell stated. “I can guarantee you that this time the safety shouldn’t be going to extend however lower.”
Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies — a spill over in its southeast from a long-running battle in neighbouring Nigeria, and an offensive within the west by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.
In Burkina Faso, greater than 17,000 folks have died in assaults since 2015, greater than 6,000 simply for the reason that begin of this 12 months, in keeping with a rely by an NGO monitor known as the Armed Battle Location and Occasion Information Undertaking (ACLED).
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