One of the most urgent challenges facing Ghana’s new president, John Dramani Mahama, is developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to counter the growing threat of terrorist groups moving south from the Sahel.
Mahama, who served as president from 2012 to 2017, focused his campaign on addressing the country’s economic crisis. Experts have long advocated for increased investment in northern Ghana to support the military’s efforts in preventing militants from gaining a foothold. Mahama, hailing from Damongo in northern Ghana, raises hopes of restoring peace in the region.
“Expectations of Ghanaians are very high, and we cannot afford to disappoint them,” Mahama stated in his victory speech. “Our best days are not behind us. Our best days are ahead of us. Forward ever, backwards never.”
Extremist militants from the Sahel have already established themselves within Ghana’s 600-kilometer porous border with Burkina Faso and are likely recruiting from marginalized northern communities.
Journalist Nosmot Gbadamosi, who has reported from northern Ghana for several years, noted an “alarming spike in criminality and violence” in remote border areas. She highlighted that young men engaged in criminal networks to smuggle gold, wood, weapons, and machinery via Burkina Faso and Togo due to joblessness and poverty. “Their motives were financial, not ideological. Indeed, hunger was the overriding factor,” she wrote for Foreign Policy magazine.
Security experts emphasize that the government must increase its presence in the north with services to address widespread poverty and unemployment, which has risen to nearly 15% nationwide. According to the World Data Lab, around 3.5 million men and 3.3 million women in Ghana live in extreme poverty, defined as living on or below $2.15 a day.
While Ghana’s military is well-regarded, it cannot alone prevent the spread of violent extremist groups.
In March 2024, the United States announced $100 million in aid to support conflict prevention and stabilization efforts in Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Togo—countries bordering Sahel terrorism hotspots in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The European Union also provided military assistance in 2024 to bolster Ghana’s defense against radicalization.
About 4 kilometers from Ghana’s northern border with Burkina Faso, the town of Bawku starkly embodies the country’s internal challenges. Hospitals, banks, and schools have shut down as deadly clashes between the Kusasi and Mamprusi ethnic groups have intensified.
Recently, Ghanaians have participated in the fighting between Islamist insurgents and the military in neighboring Burkina Faso, crossing the 550-kilometer (340-mile) porous border undetected by security forces.
Bawku is embroiled in a decades-long struggle between ethnic groups over local chieftaincy control. More than 100 people have been killed in clashes since October.
JNIM smugglers are accused of selling weapons to both sides, taken from the military in Burkina Faso, using trucks transporting onions between Niger and Burkina Faso to hide the weapons. Ghanaian security is ill-equipped to detect these vehicles, putting the country in a critical situation.
President John Mahama, who took office in January after winning December’s presidential election, visited Bawku last month to promote peace between rival groups. However, gunfights continue to be reported.
Ghana’s governing party spokesman Sammy Gyamfi told the BBC that ending the violence in Bawku is the government’s “number one priority.”
“The violence is already spreading and if care is not taken, it’s likely that insurgents from the wider region can take advantage of this conflict,” he said.
Ghana Military responds to this threat
To confront this growing threat, the Ghanaian Armed Forces (GAF) is set to establish a War College to train future military strategists and leaders. The Institution will be established with seed capital from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), is expected to be the capstone of Ghana’s military education system.
A War College is a senior military academy whose purpose is to educate and train senior military tacticians, strategists, and leaders. It is also a place where advanced tactical and strategic thought, doctrines and policy are developed.
“It would also provide and improve the professional education of the highest levels of military leadership when established.”
In April 2022, Ghana took the first step in building a viable military industrial complex to supply it’s military with equipment. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia Monday, 4 April, inaugurated a joint venture companies under the Defence Industries Holding Company (DIHOC), and also commissioned construction equipment worth US $18 million to support the military’s operations and the General Headquarters Office Complex of the Military.
Three years ago, British troops provided training to Ghanaian soldiers on fighting in built up area (FIBUA) to enhance their capacity to tackle threats from violent extremist organisations.
Also, to enhance the mobility and overall operational capabilities of the Ghana Armed Force inducted 245 vehicles of various types into service. Ghana’s president and commander-in-chief Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo presented the vehicles to the Ghana Armed Forces in the capital Accra on 1 February, 2023. The vehicles include 70 Kamaz trucks, 20 BTR-70 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), 20 Navistar Defence Husky tactical support vehicles (TSVs), and 65 Toyota utility vehicles.
Last year May, it was announced that Ghanaian military will be receiving 70 Husky 4×4 tactical support vehicles (TSV) from the United Kingdom to help improve security in it’s northern borders. UK will also provide related training regarding the operation and regular maintenance of the vehicles. UK will also provide related training regarding the operation and regular maintenance of the vehicles.
The European Union (EU) in October 2023, donated over 100 armoured military vehicles to the West African nation. These vehicles were originally seized from a ship off the coast of Libya as part of EU maritime efforts to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya.
The donated vehicles includes BATT UMG armoured vehicles, Toyota Land Cruisers, Chevrolet trucks, and GMC trucks. At least 28 BATT UMGs, manufactured by the United Arab Emirates’ The Armoured Group, were being transported by the MV Meerdijk to Libya when the merchant vessel was inspected by Irini forces on 11 October 2022.
In 2022, the United Kingdom provided new armoured vehicles comprising of 70 Husky 4×4 tactical support vehicles (TSV) to help improve security in it’s northern borders.
UK will also provide related training regarding the operation and regular maintenance of the vehicles.
