Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on Thursday voiced deep concern over the growing incidence of terrorism in West Africa and the Sahel region.
During the opening of a two-day High-Level Consultative Conference on Regional Cooperation and Security, Ablakwa warned that the region loses an average of 44 lives daily to these terror attacks.
“The epicenter of global terrorism has moved from the Middle East to our region. We now account for at least 47 percent to 59 percent of all recorded global terrorism,” the foreign minister said.
According to the minister, terrorism attacks have increased by 1,266 percent over the past 15 years and the death toll by 2,860 percent over the same period.
Coupled with terrorism, Ablakwa said, is the issue of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and human trafficking across the porous borders, adding to the silent erosion of resilience in the community.
Ablakwa said that fragmentation, suspicion and limited information sharing diminish the regional collective ability to address shared issues and undermine the economic and social advantages of integration.
“Today, let us commit to building a new culture of transparency, confidence, and actionable intelligence sharing. Trust is not built overnight. It is forged through consistent engagement, demonstrated solidarity in times of crisis, and a willingness to place collective interest above narrow national gain,” he added.
Ghana’s Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak said that terrorism and violent extremism have not merely persisted, but have intensified and expanded their reach with alarming sophistication.
He called on security and intelligence chiefs to solve these threats and save their compatriots from the existential threat. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
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