Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo’s comment on the Wagner (pronounced Vagner) group is premised on the fact that since Russia invaded Ukraine, Ghana has condemned Russia for the move and even blamed her (Russia) for the economic challenges Ghana was facing. Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Ghana’s Permanent representative at the United Nations, Harold Agyeman as well as Prez. Akufo-Addo have on several occasions called out Russia and warned that her continued missile strikes in Ukraine was a threat to global peace. Now that the Wagner (a pro-Russian mercenary group) is near our borders, the president is concerned about the safety of Ghanaian citizens for fear of reactionary attacks by the group.
Activities of the Wagner group is not new to the African continent. As mercenaries they fight for a course, get their reward and move to the next contract.
Burkina Faso says they engaged Wagner to help them fight insurgents and extremist jihadist groups who have attacked almost all of Ghana’s neighbours and making incursions towards coastal countries like Ghana.
Whether Prez. Akufo-Addo engaged his Burkinabe counterpart over the issue is currently unknown but reporting it to the USA is what has surprised many security and international relations analysts.
The full presentation by Prez. Akufo-Addo to the US Secretary of State, Antony Bliken, was to seek their assistance to help protect Ghana’s peace and democracy in case the Wagner group decides to retaliate because of our public criticism of Russia. Furthermore it is to draw the attention of the US to efforts being made by West African countries to fight the active terror threats within the sub region.
Another major step taken to deal with the insecurity in the sub region is the institution of the Accra Initiative in 2017 aimed at concentrating efforts of 5 West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Mali, and Niger) through intelligence sharing to firstly preempt, prevent and protect their citizens.
Ghana is so concerned about the safety of its citizens to the extent that a national campaign dubbed SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING was also launched to encourage citizens to immediately report strange activities and sightings that could potentially threaten our peace and destabilise our democracy.
Issues of security are of prime concern to the Ghana president and as the immediate past Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, his call may have been misconstrued to mean he was “reporting” his neighbor to the US.
On hindsight maybe it would have been in order to raise and address these concerns locally before escalating to the international community especially knowing how sensitive these issues are in global geopolitics.
Already Burkina Faso has reacted by summoning its ambassador to Ghana and the Ghanaian ambassador in Burkina Faso to a meeting over Prez Akufo-Addo’s comments.
Security is utmost for every leader and diplomacy must be employed in reaching a consensus on this subject for the benefit of all.
By Martin Asiedu-Dartey
The writer is the Foreign Affairs correspondent for Media General and a Broadcast Journalist.
Twitter: @NewsyMartin