Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has courted the support of the United States to ward off possible security threats to Ghana, being posed by what he described as Russian mercenaries mining along the northern borders of Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo said Russian Wagner forces have been compensated with a mine in Southern Burkina to help the insurgency in Burkina Faso.
The Wagner forces is a mercenary outfit run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The President was speaking at a meeting with the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken as part of the US Africa Leaders’ Summit which is taking place in Washington D.C.
“Today Russian mercenaries are on our northern border. Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali and incline the Wagner forces there. I believe a mine in Southern Burkina has been allocated them as a form of payment for their services. Prime Minister of Burkina Faso in the last days has been in Moscow and to have them operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana,” the President said.
President Akufo-Addo further noted that Ghana’s condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia makes the country to be concerned about the presence of the Wagner forces at the country’s borders.
“We have been very vocal and upfront about condemning the invasion by Russia and therefore to have this group on our borders is a matter of some considerable disquiet and concern for us.
“It’s important that we bring that matter to your notice and see to what extent we can engage you as a reliable partner in the pushback of those forces,” he added.
The summit is a three-day high-level diplomatic engagement with African leaders geared to foster new partnerships and cooperation between the US and its allies in the African continent.
Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Sudan were excluded from the summit because the AU had suspended them over recent coups.
Burkina Faso has however denied hiring Russian forces to fight militants.
