Support Africa’s fight against terrorism, violent extremism …President appeals to world leaders

“Reparations Must Be Paid For Slave Trade” – President Akufo-Addo

“Reparations Must Be Paid For Slave Trade” – President Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on leaders of the global commu­nity to put into full effect the provisions of Chap­ters Seven and Eight of the UN Charter and provide proportionate support to Africa’s fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

According to him despite the considerable economic difficulties confronting ECOWAS Member States, 11 members out of the 15 Member States of ECOWAS, the four military-led States having been suspended, have made clear their willingness to take the fight to the terrorists, if they were sufficiently empowered.

“Comparisons, they say, are odi­ous, but some cannot be ignored. The Russian war on Ukraine has elicited, according to my infor­mation, some US$73.6 billion in American support for Ukraine, US$138.8 billion from the Europe­an Union and its institutions, and US$14.5 billion from the United Kingdom,” he said.

The President continued, “On the other hand, the security assis­tance from the US, the EU and the UK to ECOWAS have, in total, in the same period, amounted to US$29.6 million.”

With the right amount of sup­port to ECOWAS, he was certain that the terrorists “can be chased out of West Africa and the Sahel too. Foreign troops would not have to be involved. West African troops can do the job. The Accra Initiative is a good example of indigenous self-help.”

President Akufo-Addo was speaking on “Democracy and Security in West Africa”, at the United States Institute of Peace’s Programme on Governance and Peace, on Thursday, in Washington D.C., U.S.A, when he made this known.

President ASkufo-Addo
President ASkufo-Addo

Explaining the emergence of terrorists in West Africa, the Pres­ident noted that “the terrorists, as we all know, were chased out of the Middle East and Afghanistan before taking refuge in Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, from where they fled across the Sahara to find ref­uge in northern Mali after Gadda­fi’s downfall.”

They have, since then, he inti­mated, “spread their pernicious in­fluence eastwards and southwards, and with the coastal states of West Africa their ultimate destination.”

Citing rising levels of displace­ment of populations in many parts of the Sahel due to the insecurity

engendered by the armed groups, President Akufo-Addo, who has been a 2-term Chairman of ECOWAS said, “Africa has become the centre of attraction for terrorist groups which are multiplying in the region, following defeats suffered in other parts of the world.”

In the face of marked success­es chalked, he stated that, the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on develop­ing countries, has unfortunately, “left many countries and regional bodies, particularly in the Sahel, in very dire economic situations. This has compounded the challenges we face in the mobilisation of resources to fight terrorists in our backyards.”

 

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