W.Africa, European Partners Bolster Ties Against Sahel Militant Threat

West African nations met with European leaders on Tuesday for talks on "homegrown" ways to prevent conflict in the Sahel threatening to "engulf" countries on the Gulf of Guinea

Accra, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2022 ) :West African nations met with European leaders on Tuesday for talks on "homegrown" ways to prevent conflict in the Sahel threatening to "engulf" countries on the Gulf of Guinea.

Coastal states Ghana, Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast face increasing threats and attacks from militants across their northern borders with Burkina Faso and Niger.

The summit in Ghana's capital Accra also comes as more Western nations have withdrawn peacekeepers from Mali after its military junta strengthened cooperation with Russia.

Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo said worsening Sahel security was "threatening to engulf the entire West African region".

"Terrorist groups, emboldened by their apparent success in the region are looking (for) new operational grounds, a development that has triggered a southward drift of the menace," he said.

Under the so-called Accra Initiative, heads of state from the Gulf of Guinea and leaders from Niger and Burkina Faso met in Ghana with representatives from the West African bloc ECOWAS, the EU, Britain and France.

Akufo-Addo called for a "home-grown initiative" to answer the threat as well as a comprehensive approach involving economic and social development to tackle the roots of extremism.