Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo has said neighbouring Burkina Faso has invited in mercenaries from the Russian firm Wagner. He said this during
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has said neighbouring Burkina Faso has invited in mercenaries from the Russian firm Wagner.
He said this during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and described the development as distressing.
This comes as coastal states in West Africa including Ghana are growing increasingly concerned about the spread of jihadist violence from the Sahel region.
President Akufo-Addo said Russian mercenaries were on Ghana’s northern border.
He said he understood that the Wagner group had been offered a mine in southern Burkina Faso as a form of payment for services – presumably fighting Islamist militants.
In a video of the meeting with the US secretary of state, Mr Akufo-Addo describes the development as particularly worrying seeing as Ghana strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He spoke of the dangerous proliferation of coups in West Africa adding that there were enemies of democracy working hard in the region.
It was a call for people to focus on what Ghana sees as the combined threats of jihadist violence, coups and Russian interference.
BBC Africa
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