Kan-Dapaah leads delegation to Burkina Faso to review strong cooperation; conveys Akufo-Addo's message to Burkinabe leader

Minister of National Security Albert Kan-Dapaah has led a high-powered delegation to Burkina Faso to reaffirm their commitment to partner in the fight against terrorism in the West Africa region.

The delegation from Ghana also included security chiefs and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

Mr Kan-Dapaah conveyed a message from President Nana Akufo-Addo to the Burkinabe leader Ibrahim Traore.

“The two countries reviewed the strong cooperation between them and clarified to their mutual satisfaction recent reported discussions between Ghana and the United States with regard to the needed partnerships for sustainable peace in the region,” he told the media after the meeting in Ouagadougou on Wednesday 21 December 2022.

“In that respect, we discussed concrete support that Ghana has advocated for Burkina Faso in the Accra Initiative and ECOWAS and called on West African states to act expeditiously on the matter,” he added.

Earlier, the government of Burkina Faso has summoned Ghana's ambassador.

That country's state information agency said Boniface Gambilla was summoned by the government of Apollinaire Kyelem over recent allegations made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the US.

President Akufo-Addo, in a recent meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, had raised concerns about the presence of Russian mercenaries on Ghana's border with Burkina Faso.

“Today, Russian mercenaries are on our northern border,” Ghana's president complained to the US Secretary of State.

“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.”