President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed concerns about the presence of Russian mercenaries on Ghana’s border with Burkina Faso.
Reports say the interim Burkinabe government has hired the services of Russian soldiers to help the country’s fight against terrorism.
The Interim Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla, is said to have been to Russia to negotiate this deal.
The mercenaries have, reportedly, been allocated the south of the country.
In a meeting with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on the sidelines of the US-African Leaders’ Summit on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo described the development as “distressing” for Ghana.
“Today, Russian mercenaries are on our northern border,” he said.
“Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in employing the Wagner forces there. I believe the mines in southern Burkina have been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services. Prime Minister of Burkina Faso in the last 10 days has been in Moscow.
“And to have them operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana. Apart from not accepting the idea of great powers, once again making Africa the theatre of operation, we are particular about our position you know about the Ukraine war where we have been very very vocal and upfront about condemning the invasion by Russia and therefore there now to have this group on our borders is a matter of some considerable disquiet and concern for us.”
He said there were reasons why the sub-regional body, Ecowas, decided to take over the coup d’etats in Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea.
One of the reasons is to avoid a situation which is what is happening with Burkina Faso and the mercenaries currently.
President Akufo-Addo said he was only bringing the matter to the attention of Secretary Blinken.