Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Ghana’s Minister of National Security, says the West African subregion experienced 17 terrorist attacks as of June 28, 2022. He addes the attacks resulted in 574 deaths with “so many injuries.”
“In April, the subregion of West Africa witnessed attacks, incidents and 315 people died. We felt that was too much, but in May, there were only 42 incidents, five less than in April, but 465 people died. The trend has not changed,” he added.
The Minister was making the comments at the opening ceremony of the First Senior Level Regional Course for the Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) for West Africa Region, in Accra.
The four-day event is jointly organised by the African Union’s (AU) specialised institution – African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT) and partnered by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.
It is being supported by the Human Security Research Centre (HSRC)-Ghana.
Mr Kan-Dapaah noted that major security threats posed by terrorism and violent extremism were more widespread than previously thought, transcending borders.
Therefore, he said the course would create the opportunity for them to reflect on measures, strategies deployed thus far towards addressing terrorism and violent extremism.
He said it would also help them develop innovative approaches towards enhancing regional security.
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