Ghana will be at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Africa as part of new moves by African countries and the US to combat growing terrorist activities.
It will be one of few African countries that will be significantly equipped to fight such activities on the continent.
Though yet to experience terrorist activities, it shares it’s borders with Nigeria which has seen some high level of terrorist attacks recently.
Some security analysts have warned that Ghana could suffer spillovers from Nigeria if it fails to strengthen its strategy on combating terrorism.
But a new initiative to be supported by the US will help Ghana and 5 other countries build strong security forces to deal with such activities.
President Obama announcing the highlights of the agreement reached on security at the US -Africa leaders summit said, ”the US will deepen its corporation with Africa to fight terrorism.”
”we’re deepening our security cooperation to meet common threats, from terrorism to human trafficking. We’re launching a new Security Governance Initiative to help our African countries continue to build strong, professional security forces to provide for their own security and we’re starting with Kenya, Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Ghana and Tunisia.”
According to President Obama the West African partners made it clear that they want to increase their capacity to respond to the terrorism crisis so the United States will launch a new effort to bolster the regions early warning and response network and increase their ability to share information’.
Meanwhile according to the US leader Ghana and 5 other countries will also receive massive support for their peace keeping activities.
”Most importantly, we’re launching a new African peacekeeping rapid response partnership with the goal of quickly deploying African peacekeepers in support of U.N. or AU missions, we’ll join with six countries that in recent years have demonstrated a track record as peacekeepers Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda.
We are going to invite countries beyond Africa to join us in supporting this effort, because the entire world has a stake in the success of peacekeeping in Africa.’
During deliberations at the summit it was also agreed that the US will make significant new investments in African peacekeeping.
The United States will provide additional equipment to African peacekeepers in Somalia and the Central African Republic and will support the African Union’s efforts to strengthen its peacekeeping institutions.
By: Vivian Kai Mensah/citifmonline.com/Washington