Security situation in West Africa is worrying – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has described the deteriorating security situation in West Africa as worrying.

He warned that the entire sub-region will remain unsafe until drastic measures are instituted to consolidate and entrench democratic tenets.

The President, who also chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), wants firm action to deal with military takeovers in the West African States.

“The deteriorating political situation in our region should be a matter of great concern to all of us. But, unfortunately, no current country is insulated from this occurrence in the community, and we have to take action to nip it in the bud,” he stated.

Personnel from ECOWAS and the United Nations are currently in Burkina Faso to assess the political situation there following the overthrow of the elected government last week.

According to Akufo-Addo, “the happenings in the region tell us that not everybody has accepted democracy as the preferred mode of governance.

He added that more works need to be done “to convince people that we are safer under democracy.”

“We are confronted with the setback to our democracy taking cognisance of the three coup d’état in Mali on August 18, 2020, the one in Guinea on September 5, 2021, and now on January 24, 2022, in Burkina Faso.

“Added to this is the complex security environment occasioned by terrorist attacks and pandemics presenting for us a toxic situation. Therefore, any access to power must be through a free, fair and transparent election,” he said.

The development is already impacted as some 134,000 Burkina Faso nationals have crossed into Ghana seeking asylum.

ECOWAS leaders are expected to meet in Ghana on Thursday to take more drastic measures against Burkina Faso after suspension.

Meanwhile, the Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Prof. Kwesi Aning, is predicting a couple of coup d’etats in the West African Region if the regional bloc, ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) do not urgently resolve the insecurity threats in the region.

This, he said, is a result of the trajectory of extreme violence and the toxicity in politics such as excessive corruption, unemployment, poor educational system and other underlying factors of political instability present in most West African countries.