Sahel insurgency could 'engulf' West Africa, Ghana President says

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Sahel insurgency could 'engulf' West Africa, Ghana President says

Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday warned that a rampant Islamist insurgency in West Africa's Sahel is threatening to engulf the entire region.

www.reuters.com

Sahel insurgency could 'engulf' West Africa, Ghana President says​

Reuters2 minute readNovember 22, 202212:11 PM ESTLast Updated a day ago
ACCRA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday warned that a rampant Islamist insurgency in West Africa's Sahel is threatening to engulf the entire region.

West African leaders and European ministers are in Ghana's capital Accra to discuss regional solutions to the insurgency that is spreading as foreign troops pull out of Mali, where militants have seized vast swathes of territory.

France, Denmark and Ivory Coast are among countries that ended military cooperation with Mali this year over the ruling junta's cooperation with Russian mercenaries.

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Mali, where West Africa's insurgency took root in 2012, has been at odds with regional governments, Western powers and a United Nations peacekeeping mission since a military government that seized power in an August 2020 coup failed to hold promised elections.
Collaboration with Russia and alleged army abuses exacerbated tensions.
There are concerns military withdrawals from Mali will create a security vacuum in an area where groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have already branched into Mali's neighbours and moved into coastal states south of the Sahel.
"Today the terrorist groups, emboldened by their success in the regions, are seeking new grounds," Akufo-Addo said on the second day of the Accra Initiative security conference.

[1/6] West African heads of state pose with European Council President Charles Michel at the Accra Initiative regional security conference in Accra, Ghana, November 22, 2022. REUTERS/Cooper Inveen
"The worsening situation... threatens to engulf the entire West Africa region," he said.
Attacks have increased over the past decade despite efforts to fight insurgents. The violence has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2.7 million across the Sahel, according to the U.N.
Conflict and climate shocks have also created a food crisis in the region.
Over 30 million people in Sahel will require lifesaving assistance and protection in 2022, almost two million more than the previous year, the U.N. said in June.
Coastal states such as Benin and Togo have meanwhile seen rising attacks in recent years, prompting discussions about Western help to stem the insurgency's southward spread.
"The risk of contagion into the coastal states is not a risk anymore, it's a reality," said European Council President Charles Michel.
"We all need to identify the best way to have an impact on the ground," he said, adding that EU support to the region included "lethal hardware for defensive purposes".

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Reporting by Christian Akorlie and Cooper Inveen Writing by Sofia Christensen and Tomasz Janowski
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Neo. The Only. The One.]

Nap byke

 

[BaggerofTea]

Another gulf Arab creation.

The entire middle east should be dusted off the globe save for the women

 

[UpAndComing]

Apu is back

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

Nana Akufo-Addo is a puppet of the United States.
If he is saying this it means the United States told him to say this.
This means the united states wants more military presence in Africa.
That is what this news means!!
Nana Akufo-Addo is a puppet of the west.

 

[Problematic Pat]

Another gulf Arab creation.

The entire middle east should be dusted off the globe save for the women

They were created by the US.
This is how the US uses the threat of "terrorists" to find a way to insert themselves in regions they don't belong militarily.

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

Another gulf Arab creation.

The entire middle east should be dusted off the globe save for the women

Tis a U.S. creation.

And what you just said is such an extreme statement beyond belief.
I see you in threads usually hating on racists and here you say this.
You saying something way way worse than many of the things i've seen you condemn.

 

[Supa cat]

Apu is back

He wasted no time I give it 5 mins board be spammed with “BREAKING!!!”

 

[Mashal88]

Welcome back.

 

[BaggerofTea]

Tis a U.S. creation.

And what you just said is such an extreme statement beyond belief.
I see you in threads usually hating on racists and here you say this.
You saying something way way worse than many of the things i've seen you condemn.

They were created by the US.
This is how the US uses the threat of "terrorists" to find a way to insert themselves in regions they don't belong militarily.

Arab countries are already well exposed in supporting violent Islamic terrorists across the African continent

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Nana Akufo-Addo is a puppet of the United States.
If he is saying this it means the United States told him to say this.
This means the united states wants more military presence in Africa.
That is what this news means!!
Nana Akufo-Addo is a puppet of the west.

none of this makes any sense.

West African nations move to create anti-jihadist force

Seven west African countries have agreed to create a military force to fight jihadists who have destabilized the region.

www.semafor.com

Kent Mensah

AFRICA

West African nations move to create anti-jihadist force​

Updated Nov 23, 2022, 11:37am EST
Kent is a freelance journalist based in Accra, Ghana.
Sign up for Semafor Africa: A rapidly-growing continent’s crucial stories.
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THE NEWS

REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Accra, Ghana — Seven west African countries have agreed to create a military force to fight jihadists who have destabilized the region.
Islamic State and al-Qaeda fighters have carried out hundreds of attacks in and around the Sahel, stoking insecurity that has led to coups in Mali and Burkina Faso in the last two years. The violence has killed 2,000 people, forced around two million to flee their homes, and deprived nearly 10 million of reliable access to food in the first six months of this year, according to the United Nations.
Earlier this month, the U.K. and France both announced the withdrawal of their troops from Mali, with the latter ending its decade-long mission against Islamists in the region. On Tuesday Germany also said it was pulling its troops out of the country. Meanwhile, Mali’s ruling junta has in the last year sought help from the Russia-backed private security force Wagner Group to fight insurgents.
This week Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Togo held talks in the Ghanaian capital Accra, along with representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Union, and the African Union to discuss security. The seven African countries formed a group five years ago called the Accra Initiative to collaborate on regional security and share intelligence.
On Tuesday, Accra Initiative members said their new anti-jihadist “joint task force” would start operating within a month. The announcement came after Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo told those taking part in the talks that insurgents were "seeking new operational grounds" and drifting south to the region’s coastal countries.
Ghana’s national security minister Albert Kan-Dapaah told Semafor the full details of the “standby force” and the contribution from member states needed to be finalized.
Half of the 346 insurgent attacks recorded in Africa in the first three months of this year took place in West Africa, according to Kan-Dapaah. He added that there were another 264 militant attacks between July and September this year, which killed 745 people. “We are absolutely concerned about the withdrawal of Western troops from the region, specifically Mali but… the Accra Initiative is a homegrown solution to our own problems,” Kan-Dapaah said.
The president of the ECOWAS Commission, Gambian diplomat Omar Touray, rejected criticism from some quarters that the new force was unnecessary. “We need to tackle terrorism and violent extremism from multiple fronts and I don’t see it as a replica of what we already have at ECOWAS,” he told Semafor.

KENT'S VIEW

The porous borders between West African countries have increased fears that instability in the Sahel could move further south to more densely populated urban areas on the sub-region’s coast.
A lot needs to be done when it comes to curb violent extremism in the region, and the response from the region’s leaders has so far been mostly ineffective.
For countries to work together effectively, political leaders must take basic steps to improve security, beginning with the strengthening of border controls. Security staff must be better paid to disincentivize bribe-taking in exchange for foregoing vital checks. Without tighter controls, we won’t be able to stop the free movement of militants.

ROOM FOR DISAGREEMENT
There is some skepticism about about the prospect of a new anti-jihadist force in West Africa, particularly given that it would not include Nigeria. Cheta Nwanze, partner at Lagos-based risk consultancy SBM Intelligence, said input from Nigeria’s 223,000-strong armed forces which has experience of battling jihadist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province would be needed to make a regional security force viable. He also questioned whether the UK, which took part in the talks, would contribute anything beyond words of encouragement.
“The Ghanaian military is made up of around 16,000 personnel. There are bandit groups in Nigeria that have more than that, so unless the Brits are willing to commit to it in terms of personnel, not just lofty words, we’re all just wasting time,” he said.
Nwanze added that regional bloc ECOWAS had “proven to be toothless” and while the EU would make “sweet noises” about support, this was meaningless in the absence of France after it decided to pull its troops out of the region.

THE VIEW FROM LONDON
Britain’s Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said climate change, global economic insecurity, and the rising cost of living are creating conditions within which violent extremism is spreading rapidly across Africa.
Addressing delegates at the recent conference in Accra, he said the U.K. wanted to show solidarity with Africans. “This is a regional problem that you have here in West Africa and it’s right that you seek to provide solutions,” he said. “But, given that the instability and security here so profoundly have a consequence to us in Europe, it’s also right that we stand ready to assist you.”

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

They were created by the US.
This is how the US uses the threat of "terrorists" to find a way to insert themselves in regions they don't belong militarily.

Theres no evidence of this.

Why can't radical islamists be taken seriously for their own agency.

Mali is struggling to contain them without France right now under the guise of rejecting imperialism.

You can do it your way, or their way.

 

[Bonk]

Theres no evidence of this.

Why can't radical islamists be taken seriously for their own agency.

Mali is struggling to contain them without France right now under the guise of rejecting imperialism.

You can do it your way, or their way.

He’s not lying.

West African jihadists are CIA/Mossad/MI6 & French Intelligence children. They’re the ones training, arming & financing them. And there’s a reason why Algeria has armed itself to the teeth with the most advanced weapons & it protects every inch of its borders.

Those people don’t care about Islam - they’re agents of destabilisation for western exploitation.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

He’s not lying.

West African jihadists are CIA/Mossad/MI6 & French Intelligence children. They’re the ones training, arming & financing them. And there’s a reason why Algeria has armed itself to the teeth with the most advanced weapons & it protects every inch of its borders.

Those people don’t care about Islam - they’re agents of destabilisation for western exploitation.

OK. Thats nice....but ultimately wrong.

If anything this Russia and Ukraine situation has shown is that the whole "anti-USA" meme isn't gonna cut it anymore. Finally. Its time for local actors to start taking accountability and agency for their own self inflicted bullshyt.

Nigeria is out here sentencing people to decades-long prison sentences for "apostasy" but you're confused about "radical muslims" in the Sahel?

...really?



But these groups were not created by the west.

Leveraged at points in time? plausible...but in active wars theres always less-favorable players..

Created? No.

Hell, did yall forget when ARAB ISIS rejected African ISIS because they were too racist to allow the africans in?

Will Racism Keep ISIS from Teaming Up with Boko Haram?

The two terror groups are equally murderous, but officials question whether they will join forces.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

Theres no evidence of this.

Why can't radical islamists be taken seriously for their own agency.

Mali is struggling to contain them without France right now under the guise of rejecting imperialism.

You can do it your way, or their way.

What is this 2003 again?
Do we not all know that the war against terrorism was all a scam?
Do we not all already know this in 2022?


War against terroism, war against drugs.... come on man, it's all corruption.
Keep up people!!!

Man humans just keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again.
History just keeps repeating itself again and again...