The US government has reiterated its commitment to helping Ghana secure its borders against terrorism.
Commander of the U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Army General Stephen J. Townsend, emphasised this support during a digital press briefing with selected journalists across Africa.
General Townsend said the US government is concerned about increasing terrorist activities in neighbouring countries including Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and the Ivory Coast.
These activities, he noted, threaten Ghana’s security and pledged more collaboration with Ghana to ward off the threat.
He stated that they will continue to help in training security personnel and supporting them with logistics to help equip the country to fight terrorist incursions.
“Ghana is a long-standing partner of the United States, and so we are offering more concrete support to Ghana over this past year and will continue to do so. So just in the last year, we have sent training teams. We have sent advisory teams, and we have incorporated them increasingly into exercises”, said General Townsend.
He added that “we are researching and trying to provide for some of their equipment needs because Ghana is very important historically to the United States. So we have seen the same thing, and the United States has committed concrete support to Ghana.”
The press briefing, which follows the 2022 African Chiefs of Defense Conference on the theme “Shared Investment for a Shared Future” was to discuss the 2022 African Chiefs of Defense Conference and the United States’ and Africa’s shared commitment to security on the continent.
Touching on the increasing security threats in some African countries, General Townsend noted that, such challenges can only be tackled through collaboration.
“Many of the challenges that I discussed today will only be solved if multiple countries work together and we have a consistent, open dialogue and we have whole-of-government approaches with our African partners in the lead.”
