The recent Sahel Peace Initiative (SPI) Forum, organized by the Ghana Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Relief Services, and the Ghana Journalists Association, could not have come at a more crucial time, especially with the upcoming elections in December. The theme of “Building a More Peaceful and Cohesive Ghana: A Collective Endeavor” resonates deeply within us, as neighboring countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger continue to grapple with violent extremism at considerable social cost.
For the past five or more years, our Sub-region has had to fight off serious terrorist attacks at the hands of Jihadist movements. These have caused loss of lives of thousands of peoples, the destruction of properties and the emergence of a high number of refugees within pockets of relatively safe areas in some countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). There seems to be no sign of abatement of the threatening situation.
Unfortunately, our political leaders have not been able to address the militant challenges adequately, to the point where three sub-regional countries have had to suffer military takeovers and the ECOWAS itself threatened with disintegration. This insurgency by Islamist groups in the circles of many West African countries is fast becoming not merely a very serious threat but a reality in our Sub-region: So far Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are among the 16 West African most affected countries, large portions of whose three countries are virtually in the hands of Jihadists.
In neighboring Burkina Faso, Islamist militants since 2015 have displaced some two million persons and caused the death of over 10,000 citizens and militants alike. In Nigeria, the Islamic sectarian movement known as the Boko Haram, has carried out considerable violence in the form of killings and abductions. The Jihadist groups in the north of the Sub-region are moving southward, ramping up attacks in the northern parts of Benin, Togo, and La Côte d’Ivoire.
There is no denying that harsh economic and social situation in some of the countries, the result of state capture and/or State failure, feed many of the violent conflicts in Africa, and particularly our Sub-region. However, the situation has been exacerbated due in part to weak and bad governance on the part of our leaders, incapable of delivering true democracy and economic development, or to the lack of effective and efficient conflict resolution mechanisms in such countries.
Thus, the Jihadists have grown very powerful and daring. They are a serious threat to regional stability, such that our leaders in the Sub-region must do all it takes within their capacity to discourage any Jihadist intent. Ghana cannot afford to be complacent but must see herself as one more target of Jihadist conquest, whose militants seek not only to destabilize the Sub-region but also make it an Islamic empire. So far, we in Ghana have been spared such atrocities. However, our very porous northern borders leave the frontiers highly exposed to militant violence, especially in the Bawku area where a serious ethnic conflict is going on.
Priority should be given to security and economic development. We have to continually invest heavily in programmes that offer livelihood opportunities and also establish illiteracy and poverty alleviating projects. Secondly, we must facilitate self-employment opportunities for the youth, such that they are not susceptible to Jihadist recruitment. We must be mindful of the frustration that the lack of livelihood opportunities for the youth causes in a country and, in particular border towns. Thirdly, we should pursue bilateral military cooperation with Burkina Faso and the other countries we share borders with. There is also the urgent need to increase support in the sharing of intelligence in this regard, notwithstanding that we have so far managed to ward off the Jihadists from our country.
There is every reason for us to be wary of the danger of Jihadist violence spillover. The growing numbers of refugees from Burkina Faso, as well as evidence of illicit activities in the borderlands, such as gun and motorcycle smuggling, cattle theft, and even cross-border galamsey activities, should serve as a wakeup call for our security agencies to be more vigilant, and up and doing. Reports have it that some militants clandestinely enter Ghana to seek medical care. If true, then there is a serious security lapse, which must be of extreme concern to our intelligence community. Militants, such as the Jihadists, must not gradually and quietly make incursions into our country through our health system. Our proverbial Ghanaian hospitality should not turn into a self-inflicted liability. Apart from putting boots on the ground in our border towns, the security agencies have to increase their security architecture, by improving their intelligence-gathering capability.
It is the hope of The Catholic Standard that the Government’s Accra Initiative which started in 2017 and the recent Sahel Peace Initiative launched by the Catholic Church in collaboration with the CRS would further enhance multilateral intelligence cooperation and build trusty deployment of resources for a successful fight against the Jihadists. Jihadist militancy should not add up to the myriads of challenges already confronting us daily.
