Ghana's Ambassador To Burkina Faso Says Ghana Must Join Francophone Country To Fight Terrorism

• Ghana's Ambassador to Burkina Faso has appealed to the government of Ghana to support his host country fight terrorism
• Ambassador Boniface Gambila Adagbila warned that if Ghana does not take proactive steps to drive the terrorists out of Burkina Faso, they would invade Ghana next
• He called for more regional collaboration as the terrorists intensified their take over of Burkina Faso
• YEN.com.gh spoke to foreign policy and security analyst Adib Saani about the jihadists relationship with Ghana

Boniface Gambila Adagbila, Ghana’s Ambassador to Burkina Faso, has refuted claims that terrorist organisations have turned the northern part of Ghana into their logistical rear base.

According to him, the claim is baseless and undermines the country’s demonstrated commitment to combating the spread of terrorism in the West African region.

In an interview on Joy FM, he stated that rather than supporting jihadist groups, Ghana has been collaborating with Burkina Faso to help repel the al-Qaeda-linked insurgents who now control more than half of the francophone country’s territory.

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He stated that while there are indeed some porous border points between Ghana and Burkina Faso, the Burkinabes are being encouraged to use proper channels when travelling between countries to avoid being labelled as terrorists.

Meanwhile, Boniface Gambila Adagbila has urged the Ghanaian government to give the Burkinabe government more support in the fight against the insurgents.

He explained that the wider interest of the terrorists is to take over the entire region, including Ghana.

He said with Burkina Faso being the only buffer between Ghana and the terrorists, the potential dire implications are clear for all to see.

He has urged the government to join the Burkinabe fight and remove the nefarious elements from their territory as quickly as possible.

He said with more than half of Burkina Faso’s territory already under the control of the jihadists, Ambassador Adagbila called for more regional cooperation to drive them out and ensure lasting peace in the area.

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Expert explains Ghana's usefulness to jihadists

In an interview with YEN.com.gh, Saani Adib, a foreign policy and security analyst, noted that one of the reasons Ghana has not been attacked is due to its usefulness to the jihadists.

He explained that the jihadists depend on Ghana to raise funds for their operations and thus cannot attack it.

However, he expressed fear that Ghana could outlive its usefulness in the future.

"A lot of people ask why Ghana hasn't still been attacked, I mean beyond the work that is being done by the state, beyond the work that is being done by the state, I also think that the terrorists, it might not be in their interest to attack Ghana as they use Ghana for other purposes.

"Ghana might be useful to them in one way or another, and they say you don't bite the hand that feeds you, but surely at a point you would outlive your usefulness, so there's a possibility that these terrorists would come back to attack us someday, God forbid, that is why it is imperative that we work very hard to stop them from doing so.

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"There's a need for intelligence gathering amongst the various countries within the subcontinent, so at least when the terrorist movement... When the terrorists move from one country to another, that country should be able to detect that this person is wanted in another country and all that."

Government denounces claim

YEN.com.gh reported that the Akufo-Addo administration had also denounced the very same claims earlier.

Reuters had reported that Islamist militants were leveraging Ghanaian territory to sustain their insurgency in Burkina Faso.

Reuters had reported that several Ghanaian security officials and diplomats had confirmed that the insurgents were stocking up on fuel, food and explosives and getting their injured hospital care in Ghana before returning to Burkina Faso to continue their insurgency.

The Netherlands Institute of International Relations, in a recent report, even alleged that it appears that Ghana may have accepted a de facto non-aggression pact with JNIM, the pro-al Qaeda group occupying more than half of Burkina Faso’s territory.

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However, the government has refuted the claims, describing them as misleading and non-factual.

Source: YEN.com.gh