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Ghana Receives EU Aid for Border Security


FILE — Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo arrives at the celebrations to mark the 75th anniversary of UNESCO at the headquarters in Paris, Nov. 12, 2021.
FILE — Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo arrives at the celebrations to mark the 75th anniversary of UNESCO at the headquarters in Paris, Nov. 12, 2021.

ACCRA, GHANA — Ghana on Saturday received a fleet of over 100 armored vehicles from the European Union as part of increased aid for border security to coastal West African nations that are facing spill over from jihadist conflicts in the Sahel region.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo met with EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell where he announced the aid.

Ghana received 105 armored vehicles as part of aid that would later include aerial surveillance equipment and electronic warfare systems, Addo said.

Speaking after his meeting with Borrell, Addo said "the spill over of insecurity from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea countries is not a risk anymore. It is — sadly — a reality. A reality that our partners cannot —and should not — face alone."

Borrell said the EU's investment would also target job creation and services especially in northern Ghana where there are concerns jihadists seek to take advantage of ethnic tensions and economic dissatisfaction to recruit Ghanaian youth.

Through a statement, the EU said the aid delivered to the West African nation was part of a broader 616 million euros package to strengthen defense and security of the four coastal countries of the Gulf of Guinea.

While Ghana is yet to report any jihadist attacks inside within its territory, Benin's military reports having faced around 20 incursions from across the border since 2021. Togo has also suffered attacks on its northern frontier.

Earlier this year, Ghana sent 1,000 more troops and police to the northern area of Bawku to reinforce security after gunmen killed an immigration officer and wounded two others near the border with Burkina Faso.

Officials did not blame any group for the attack but Bawku, in Ghana's Upper East region, continues to face a simmering ethnic chieftaincy dispute that often flares into violence.

Gunmen recently killed nine people when they opened fire on a bus in a northern Ghana district close to the border with Burkina Faso and Togo.

France has begun to withdraw its 1,500 troops from Niger after coup leaders there demanded they end their anti-jihadist deployment. That has left questions over France's security strategy in Africa, but also about growing Chinese and Russian influence in the region.

"If they don't want the French troops to be there then they’ll leave. I wonder who's going to take their place, the Russian mercenaries?" Borrell said.

"I can assure you that this time the security is not going to increase but decrease," he added.

Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies — a spill over in its southeast from a long-running conflict in neighboring Nigeria, and an offensive in the west by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.

Over 17,000 Burkinabe's have died in attacks since 2015, more than 6,000 just since the start of this year, according to a count by an NGO monitor called the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, ACLED.

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