Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has called for an Africa-led strategy, supported by international partners including Russia, to tackle terrorism and violent extremism in the Sahel.
He made the call during a press briefing in Russia following bilateral discussions with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Mr. Ablakwa welcomed Russia’s support for efforts to address the growing security threat in the Sahel, but stressed that African countries must remain at the centre of the response.
“Russia has been playing a very important role in stabilizing the situation in the Sahel and during the meeting I conveyed the high commendations of President Mahama and the government and people of Ghana for Russia’s role.”
“We welcome our international partners assisting us. You know, our position is that it has to be an Africa-led solution with the support of our international partners and that is how we see this Russian approach.”
The Minister said the Sahel had become a major global hotspot for terrorism, making the security situation a concern not only for Africa but for the international community.
He said President John Dramani Mahama had, since taking office, pursued efforts to engage countries in the region, including members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), despite strained relations between the bloc and ECOWAS.
“President Mahama has been leading efforts since his inauguration. He invited the leaders of the AES countries despite the fact that they had been ostracized, and relations have become frosty with ECOWAS.”
“He did take the mature and pragmatic step of inviting them to his inauguration after which he followed up to hold meetings with them in their countries and then he convened two important security conferences to deal with the situation,” he added.
According to Mr. Ablakwa, those engagements demonstrated the need for stronger international cooperation to confront the growing threat.
“That engagement it was clear that we will need international partnership because the Sahel has become the global epicenter for terrorism and this must be of concern to everybody in the world and we cannot rely on only a few countries.”
He said Ghana welcomed Russia’s contribution to the collective effort and rejected suggestions that Moscow’s involvement was outside the interests of African countries.
“That is why we welcome Russia’s contribution and the efforts of the Africa core in assisting what is an Africa-led strategy. So we do not see Russia’s role as a meddlesome busybody who has not been invited. They have been invited and they are helping us to stabilize the situation.”
Mr. Ablakwa disclosed that Ghana had drafted an agreement with Russia as part of efforts to establish a broader framework for cooperation on counter-terrorism.
“We have currently drafted an agreement which we have shared with the Russian side and we want to work with them with this new framework we are putting together which has the collective support of ECOWAS states and AES states so that with Russia we can neutralize the extremists.”
He said Ghana considered Russia an important partner in addressing the security challenges confronting the Sahel and called for deeper cooperation.
