Ambassador Jackson has a new take on the agreement made to set up a US military base in Ghana
U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson, says the military agreement between Ghana and the U.S. does not amount to an invasion of the West African country.
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He explains, there are different programmes that will take place at different times of the year, adding that each exercise will not have more than 200 U.S. troops on Ghana’s soil.
According to the US diplomat, U.S. troops are deployed to various countries to carry out a task and leave afterward.
Mr Jackson says his country is committed to liaising with the security in Ghana and other stakeholders in undertaking three mutually beneficial military exercises this year, which will involve training on counter-terrorism, response to disaster exercises and security-related programmes.
“For each exercise, we are looking at up to 200 Americans, and to my knowledge, in recent years, we have never brought in more than that; and for the time being, at the level of operations, we don’t contemplate bringing more than that in. So, this is not an invasion, I want to be clear about that,” Mr. Jackson told local news agency in Accra.
His comments come in the wake of news on Tuesday, 20 March that Ghana’s Cabinet has approved an agreement granting access to the U.S. to establish a military base in Ghana. It also indicated that Ghana has also agreed to bear the cost of the base and take primary responsibility for securing U.S. military facilities in the country.
Mr. Jackson says the $20million U.S. commitment to Ghana in terms of equipment, skills, and training for this year only is enough benefit for the people of Ghana.