By Ivan Amponsah
President Akufo-Addo and the European Council President Mr. Charles Michel, on Monday discussed how to prevent the spillover of terrorism from the Sahel region.
Islamist militants have gradually spread their activities from Niger to Burkina Faso and Mali to West Africa’s coastal states. Mr. Charles Michel said the European Union will continue to support the initiative to deal with jihadist movement in the region.
Mr. Charles Michel is in Ghana for the Accra Initiative Summit by countries along the Gulf of Guinea, Benin, Ghana, La Cote D’Ivoire and Togo. The meeting’s agenda is to prevent the spillover of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organized crime and violent extremism in member countries’ border areas.
The death toll of victims of the Islamic State-allied and Al Qaeda militants waging war in the Sahel keeps rising; and the meeting with President Akufo-Addo at the seat of government seeks to look at critical bilateral issues of common concern between the EU and Ghana ahead of the summit.
President Akufo-Addo called on the E.U to support Ghana and West Africa to develop strong security to thwart threats of terrorism.
The European Council President Mr. Charles Michel said the E.U stands by Africa under its European Peace Facility to deal with the current terrorism threats confronting the region.
The Accra Initiative is a cooperative and collaborative security mechanism. It is anchored on three pillars: information and intelligence sharing; training of security and intelligence personnel; and conducting joint cross-border military operations to sustain border security.
