The different conditions in the north of the country and a more capable Armed Forces have helped stop terrorist infiltration
Dec. 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Jihadist groups operating in the Sahel have been expanding their threat towards the south in recent years, with their sights set on the countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea. Benin and Togo have already been the scene of several attacks in their northern area but for the moment Ghana has managed to avoid this same fate, at least for now.
One of the reasons why Ghana has not been the scene of any jihadist attacks, in addition to having more advanced security forces than other countries in the area, is that the social fabric in the north of the country is not similar to that of its neighbors over whom the threat now looms, making it difficult for terrorists to penetrate.
“Ghana is a risk area but for now it does not have the same type of risk and problems that its neighbors Togo and Benin have,” summarizes Beatriz de León Cobo, a researcher specialized in West Africa at the Center for International Security at the Francisco de Victory.
As explained to Europa Press, the communities that reside in the north of Ghana do not share the same problems and complaints as the inhabitants of the north of Benin or Togo, where the population is mainly of the Peul/Fulani ethnic group and is dedicated to pastoralism and They feel more socially marginalized by the central government.
There is also a geographical factor to take into account. In the north of Benin is the W National Park, a vast expanse of territory, which also penetrates Burkina Faso and Niger, in which “security is more complicated as it is a nature reserve.” There has been a presence of jihadist groups here for quite some time and in addition, the Islamic Sahel State is also present in the area of Niger bordering Benin.
As for Togo, on the other side of the border with Burkina Faso there is also an important jihadist presence, in this case from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM, the affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Sahel), while that in the southern area of Burkina Faso bordering Ghana “there is less penetration by jihadist groups,” he points out.
LIMITED PRESENCE OF JIHADISTS
However, De León recognizes that there is currently a presence of jihadists in northern Ghana, who use it as a safe haven to rest and trade, without “it being an area where they are actively recruiting or committing attacks.” This “makes a lot of sense,” he explains to Europa Press, because groups like JNIM cannot have “the entire region as an area of operations, since that means they would be constantly exposed to attacks by security forces.”
For this reason, this expert adds, “there are regions where they do not yet have much penetration and which they prefer to use as rest regions and that is what has happened in the north of Ghana.” Thus, “although there is a presence, it is relatively limited and although there are always risks, the communities are not as prone to becoming radicalized as in other places.”
For now, Ghana’s commitment to security response, reinforcing the border and military operations in the north, has managed to keep the jihadists at bay. However, in Accra, authorities recognize that it may be a matter of time before it registers its first attack.
“Honestly, I don’t know how we haven’t been attacked yet,” a senior Ghanaian official acknowledged to Will Brown, an expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) think-tank, in a recent report on the role that the EU to stabilize the Sahel.
Although Ghana has one of the most professional armies in the region, it is still not well prepared and equipped to face the jihadist challenge and members of the Armed Forces recognize that they lack the material or drones that would allow them to combat terrorist groups. , according to this report.
ELECTIONS WITH ECONOMIC CRISIS IN THE BACKGROUND
This is mainly due to the economic problems that the country is going through, which is facing “its worst economic crisis since its return to democracy,” according to the Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI). Inflation has exceeded 50% and the Government has been forced to request a rescue of 3,000 million dollars from the IMF.
Thus, according to the latest Afrobarometer, four out of ten Ghanaians identify unemployment as the most important problem that the Government must address and eight out of ten believe that the country is going “in the wrong direction.”
In this context, the country holds elections this Saturday to choose the successor of the president, Nana Akufo-Addo. Ghana has until now been a beacon of stability in a turbulent region and nothing seems to indicate that it will change now.
The battle will be between the current Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), and John Dramani Mahama, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who briefly held the Presidency after the death of John Atta Mils. Both, along with other candidates, have signed a “peace pact” by which they commit to following constitutional means to resolve any electoral dispute.
THE TASK OF THE NEW PRESIDENT
Whoever is chosen, De León considers that he will have to continue working “holistically on the issue of radicalization, with development programs in the north, community integration and mediation, prevention against extremism, multilateral agreements with neighboring countries, reinforcements on the border…”
“What it has done so far but more and with greater multilateral coordination,” summarizes this expert, who takes for granted that Ghana will be able to count on the EU for this support but admits that it remains to be seen what the United States does with the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House next January.
As The Soufan Center highlights in a recent analysis on the risk of jihadism spreading to the Gulf of Guinea, governments in the region have opted for “overly militarized approaches, which have largely overlooked domestic vulnerabilities” that jihadists are taking advantage to recruit, “including ethnic marginalization and socioeconomic exclusion in the rural northern regions” of these countries.
“This strategy has failed to adequately address the significance of national socio-political issues as an exacerbating factor,” considers this organization specialized in security issues, for which these presidential elections could “present an important opportunity for Ghana to recalibrate its approach to mitigating a growing threat.”
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