Foreign Affairs Ministry Discredits News About Deployment Of UK Forces To Ghana
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has discredited the news about the deployment of the United Kingdom’s Special Forces to support the Accra Initiative.
According to the Ministry, foreign forces haven’t been contracted for the Initiative as published by The Telegraph and other media agencies.
The seven-member Accra Initiative was launched in 2017 under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to stop the spillover of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational crime.
The initiative is to further exchange intelligence, build capacity and undertake military action against terrorist forces in the Sahel.
AI conference was held in Accra at the beginning of this week for member states.
Ahead of the conference, Telegraph broadcasted that the UK’s 300 special forces withdrew from Mali may be sent to Ghana to help the country stop terrorism and extremism from spilling over from the Sahel.
It reported that James Heappey, Minister for the British Armed Forces, would travel to Accra, “to try and carve out a new policy” with authorities in Ghana.
This has been denied by Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The government of Ghana wishes to state that the information regarding British Special Forces is false”, it asserted in a press statement.
“Neither Ghana nor any other member of the Accra Initiative has discussed with any other partner, any such request nor contemplated the involvement of foreign forces in any of their activities.”
Justifying the presence of James Heappey at the Accra Initiative Conference on Monday and Tuesday, the Ministry said, it was only to participate in the event.
The Ministry noted that the AI is an African-led initiative which will depend solely on the armed forces of its member states.
The current member states of AI include Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Togo.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
