Terrorists planning attack on Accra and other major African cities - NPC

According to Starr FM, most of the cities targeted fall within the coastal line of West Africa.

This was disclosed at a training programme organised by the NPC in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to prevent any cross-border terrorist attacks in Ghana, a West African nation next door to terror-stricken Burkina Faso.

“That is their plan. The terrorists have voiced it― their intention to reach coastal West Africa. It is one of their avowed aims. We’ve heard they want to be in cities like Accra, Cotonou, Lagos, Abidjan, et cetera. That is their aim because these are the economic centres in the coastal countries within West Africa. Lagos is the economic centre of Nigeria.”

“Accra is the economic centre of Ghana. I think Cotonou is the same for Benin. If they are coming to Ghana from Burkina Faso, they can do that through our borders here in the Upper East Region as one of their routes. The essence of this training programme is to raise awareness for people to look out for things that they can do to prevent violence including violent extremism.”

“You look at the raging spread of violent extremism in the sub-region. From Mali, it is now in Burkina Faso. Ghana is just close to Burkina Faso. There is the essence to start preparing against any terrorist act. And one of the things is to ensure that we don’t fall in the same place that others have fallen. For example, before 2016, Burkina Faso had not experienced violent extremism or terrorism. But from 2016 up to 2021, the country has had a series of them. And the recent one was even the deadliest.”

“Within five years from 2016, Burkina Faso has experienced very violent extremist activities. But this is a country that never lived through it before 2016. But now, it is a hotspot for such activities,” the NPC’s Executive Secretary in the region, Ali Anankpieng, told Starr News.