West African leaders have been urged to take more measures to combat terrorism in the region by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He contends that until all terrorist actions are stopped, no nation is secure.
Speaking at the start of the Accra Initiative's Heads of State conference, Mr. Akufo-Addo claimed that terrorist actions in the area were slowly eroding the democratic institutions of the affected nations.
I'm not saying anything new when I remark that the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism is still a problem in West Africa and is expanding quickly throughout the continent.
In fact, we continue to observe with alarm how terrorist group activities have led to the regrettable disregard of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of our states, the painful deterioration of our democracies, and the willful displacement of the majority of our people as recent events continue to devastate the Sahelian countries of West Africa, epicenters of terrorism.
Seven West African nations gathered in Accra for the Accra Initiative to study measures to stop the spread of terrorism from the Sahel.
Islamist terrorists have gradually expanded their operations from Niger to Mali and Burkina Faso to the coastal regions of West Africa.
West Africa has had to deal with ongoing instability brought on by international terrorism and political unrest over the years.
In order to work together to combat violent extremism in the area, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo founded the Accra Initiative in 2017.
Prior to joining in 2019, Mali and Niger were permitted as observers.
In an often unstable region, the initiative encourages information exchange, training of security and intelligence officers, and cross-border military operations.
Little concrete action has been taken as a result of the Accra Initiative so far.
Member nations carried out combined military operations on their borders in 2018 and 2019 that led to the arrest of roughly 700 suspected terrorists and gang members as well as the discovery of improvised weapons.
The threat posed by terrorist organizations has increased ever since. According to Ghana's minister of state security, Albert Kan Dapaah, there were 264 documented terrorist acts in West Africa between July 1 and September 30 of this year, resulting in 745 fatalities.
Kan Dapaah urged member nations and the international community to keep talking about developing a more aggressive strategy to combat terrorism.