The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has denied media reports on the UK government’s intention in deploying its soldiers to Ghana.
According to the ministry, its attention has been drawn to a news item by “the Telegraph” captioned “British soldiers expected in Ghana after withdrawal from Mali”. It revealed that the story by ‘The Telegraph’ which was authored by Will Brown, their Africa correspondent, stated that the British Government had taken a decision to send 300 Special Forces units to Ghana to support the Accra Initiative.
With this, the ministry noted that the Government of Ghana has “no interactions with the UK Government aimed at deploying UK soldiers to Ghana for purposes of operations as described in the story”.
“The Government of Ghana wishes to state that the information regarding British special forces is false. Neither Ghana nor any other member of the Accra Initiative has discussed with any partner, any such request nor contemplated the involvement of foreign forces in any of their activities.”
Foreign Affairs Ministry
The Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed that some persons on social media have already “leapt on the back of the false news item to spread vile accusations” against the Ghana Government. In lieu of this, it urged all patriotic Africans, including Ghanaian patriots, to not fall into the trap of disinformation, misinformation and fake news that are intended to divide societies and undermine the unity of purpose.
“While the member states of the Initiative appreciate the partnerships, they share with the international community, either on an individual basis or collectively, the kinds of support envisaged under the Accra Initiative will not extend to the involvement of foreign troops.”
Foreign Affairs Ministry
The ministry highlighted that the British Minister for the Armed Forces, Rt Hon James Heappey, clarified the position in an interview he granted the BBC World Service.
Government’s Accra Initiative mechanism
The presence of the UK Minister for the Armed Forces in Accra, according to the Ministry, was to participate in the Accra Initiative Conference on 21st and 22nd November 2022.
The Ministry explained that the Accra Initiative (Al) is a cooperative and collaborative security mechanism, launched in 2017 under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with his colleagues from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Togo. It asserted that the current members of the Initiative are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Mali, and Niger.
The Initiative, the ministry revealed, aims to prevent a spill-over of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organized crime within the common border areas of member states.
“The initiative is to further exchange intelligence, build capacity and undertake military action against terrorist forces in the Sahel that threaten coastal west Africa. The Accra Initiative is an African-led, African-executed initiative which would depend solely on the armed forces of its member states.”
Foreign Affairs Ministry
It will be recalled that the Telegraph on November 22, 2022, indicated that Britain may be invited to send special forces to Ghana after it was forced to withdraw all of its 300 peacekeepers from Mali in the face of bands of Russian mercenaries and jihadist groups.
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