The Australian government has made available some 75,000 Australian Dollars ($52,000) for a counter-terrorism course to be organized for security agencies and other stakeholders in Ghana. This intervention has become necessary following several cases of terror attacks in some West African countries including Mali and Burkina Faso and security alerts by some agencies that Ghana could be the next destination for some of these attackers. There has also been some cases of kidnapping in the country, with the recent one being the abduction of some two Canadians in Kumasi.
Following these incidents, some foreign missions in the country have issued security alerts to their citizens to be extra vigilant. There has been growing concerns from security experts and well-meaning Ghanaians for government to ensure measures are put in place to deal with these security issues in the country, and also be prepared for any possible attack. It is on the back of these that the Australian government through its mission in Ghana is coming up with the counter-terrorism course to equip security agencies and stakeholders in the wake of terror attacks. Australian First Assistant Secretary for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Department in Africa and Middle East HK Yu disclosed this at a press briefing in Accra ahead of a two-day conference on mining security. According to Ms. Yu, the course will bring together major stakeholders within the security sector and is also aimed at building inter-agency cooperation in dealing with security issues in the country. “The Australian government will be contributing 75, 000 Australian dollars towards an inter-agency counter-terrorism course to be run by the Kofi Annan International Peace-Keeping Training Centre,” she disclosed. The course is expected to provide a platform for communication and also serve as an avenue for information sharing channels to be created amongst security agencies. By Irene Amesimeku|editors.3news.com|Ghana
