According to sources, Sahel jihadis find supplies and sanctuary in Ghana

According to seven sources who spoke to Reuters, Islamist militants in Burkina Faso are covertly utilizing Ghana’s north as a medical and logistical rear camp to maintain their insurgency. This could allow them to increase their presence in West Africa.

According to the sources, which include regional diplomats and Ghanaian security officials, Ghanaian authorities seem to be largely ignoring the insurgents who are crossing over from neighboring Burkina Faso to obtain food, fuel, and even explosives, as well as to receive medical attention for wounded fighters.

Although Ghana has so far been spared the kind of fatal Islamist attacks that have afflicted its neighbors, they said that strategy runs the risk of enabling terrorists to establish themselves in the nation and recruit in some underprivileged local areas.

Ghana is bordered by Burkina Faso, a country at the center of an insurgency that has killed thousands, displaced millions, and, according to some experts, made the Sahel region the epicenter of global terrorism as Islamic State and al Qaeda-affiliated factions increase their presence. The two countries are 600 kilometers (372 miles) apart.

With the rise of JNIM, a pro-al Qaeda organization, Burkina Faso has lost control of more than half of its territory. This week, a JNIM senior told French station RFI that the organization’s goal was to expand into Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

Ghana has not experienced a significant attack, in contrast to Benin and Togo.

Ghana’s ambassador to Burkina Faso, Boniface Gambila Adagbila, told Reuters that the militants were exploiting Ghana’s open borders and viewed the country as a “safe haven.” However, he refuted claims that the government had inadvertently reached a non-aggression pact with the jihadists. According to him, Ghana and Burkina Faso were collaborating to “flush them out”.

Preventing interruptions to supply lines

Ghana, whose elections are scheduled for December 7, is seen as a robust democracy and enjoys good ties with Western countries, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, which frequently commend it for its contribution to regional peace and security.

According to a research by Clingendael of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, “JNIM’s calculus of not disturbing supply lines and places of rest as well as not provoking a relatively strong army” appears to be the reason why there haven’t been any actual attacks on Ghanaian soil.

According to the group, Ghana was working with its neighbors to conduct joint operations as one of several strategies to combat the threat.

Citing senior government sources, Clingendael stated, “Yet, to avoid escalation it also appears to have accepted de facto non-aggression with JNIM,” arguing that upsetting the supply networks carried the risk of inciting violence.

According to a senior Ghanaian security officer who spoke to Reuters, militants do utilize Ghana as a rear camp for attacks abroad and to obtain medical care.

But because of the delicate nature of the matter, the official, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed they were watched and occasionally utilized as informants. Additionally, there have been instances of militants being turned up to Burkinabe officials.

The official stated, “We’ve arrested a lot of terrorists in the past and handed them over to Burkina,” adding that Accra would have wanted to handle the issues in a private manner.

The Information Ministry of Ghana chose not to comment.

Islamist militants, primarily from Algeria at the time, operated in northern Mali when they first appeared in West Africa 20 years ago. The government at the time made an unofficial non-aggression pact: Bamako assisted in negotiating the release of Westerners who had been abducted by the militants in exchange for them not attacking Mali.

Officials in Burkina Faso and Niger attempted similar arrangements at different points in time when violence escalated after a terrorist attack in Mali in 2012. As governments fell or the insurgency grew stronger, they all fell.

Since 2020, resentment over significant casualties in conflicts with militants has led to coups in all three nations. All seized-power juntas have rejected Western military assistance and resorted to Russian assistance.

Since then, Western countries have redirected their resources into attempts to support the Sahelian bordering northern regions of Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Benin.

WORKING IN GHANA

The focal point of that coastward tilt is Ghana.

When questioned about why the militants had not yet attacked locations in Ghana, the Ghanaian official responded, “You won’t destroy where you sleep, would you?”

Only two of the 40 instances that have been reported in Ghana since 2015 and are thought to be connected to violent extremist organizations actually entailed violence, according to Clingendael. The remaining ones entailed troops traversing land, recruiting combatants, gathering supplies, or evacuating.

It stated that “violent extremists are indeed active in Ghana.”

According to a U.N. assessment reviewed by Reuters, weapons specialists have linked explosive charges and detonator cords used in bombings targeting government and U.N. troops in Mali to mining operations in Ghana in recent years.

According to Aaron Atimpe, an expert on extremist organizations, local communities were being used as recruitment sites by militants entering Ghana. “It is more than just a place for them to rest and obtain supplies. People are being recruited and radicalized in the process.