Terrorist Attacks: Over 4,000 Burkinabe Refugees Cross Into Ghana For Protection But Put Pressure on Amenities

• There is a brewing humanitarian crisis in the Upper East Region as thousands of Burkinabe refugees storm towns and villages of the region
• Over 4,000 refugees have crossed into the border towns in Ghana to flee terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso
• The situation has put pressure on food and other social amenities in the villages the refugees are settling in because most of these villages are already deprived

Residents in some communities in the north of Ghana have expressed concern over the persistent influx of Burkinabe refugees entering Ghana to seek protection from terror attacks in Burkina Faso.

So far over 4,000 refugees have settled in Ghanaian villages that share a border with Burkina Faso, where rife activities of terrorist networks have rendered the country politically unstable.

According to a report by the state-owned Daily Graphic newspaper, the Burkinabe refugees, mostly women and children, fled from trouble spots in Burkina Faso like Bugri, Zouga and Asongo to communities Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.

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Burkinabe refugees put pressure on food and social amenities

Residents at the border towns and villages where a large number of refugees have settled say the influx is putting pressure on food and social amenities.

The residents of Adasiga, Soogo, Agoogo, Kperigu and Kperigzousi all in the Upper East Region said the refugees have triggered food scarcity.

"The Assembly Member for the Soogo Electoral Area, Atampuri Osben Asaki, told the Daily Graphic in an interview yesterday [Wednesday, February 1, 2023] that the situation in the area was serious and needed urgent attention," the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, many of the Burkinabe refugees are said to have settled harmoniously with residents of communities because the people on either side of the border are largely related by tribe.

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Poor security situation in Burkina Faso

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), that has been a significant deterioration in human rights and security in Ghana’s neighbouring country to the north.

Attacks and atrocities by armed Islamist groups have surged in the last couple of years.

Also, HRW has noted in its report on the country that:

“...unlawful killings by state security forces and pro-government militias during counterterrorism operations continued, and the humanitarian situation have worsened.”

President Roch Marc Kaboré was ousted by a military junta led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore after terrorist attacks on state security forces and civilians heightened.

The June 2021 massacre of over 135 civilians in Solhan, has been described as the single deadliest attack in the country since the outbreak of armed conflict in 2016.

Ghana national security test country’s terror response

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported in a separate story that Ghana tested the country's preparedness for a possible terrorist attack through a simulation exercise dubbed 'Exercise Homeshield' on December 8, 2022.

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National Security personnel stormed the University of Ghana Sports Stadium and Hilla Limann Hall for the exercise.

There was the detonation of explosives and the shooting of blank ammunition.

Source: YEN.com.gh