Ghana, Burkina Faso deepen security ties after terrorists kill 8 Ghanaian traders in Burkina Faso
Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has announced plans to strengthen security cooperation with Burkina Faso following a deadly extremist attack that claimed the lives of eight Ghanaian tomato traders in Titao, northern Burkina Faso.
The media in Ghana reported that speaking at a press conference in Burkina Faso on Friday, the minister said both countries have begun negotiations on a new joint security framework aimed at confronting the growing terrorist threat in the region.
The planned bilateral security framework is expected to enhance intelligence sharing, coordinated operations, and broader counter-terrorism collaboration between the two neighbouring countries as West Africa faces escalating extremist threats.
Mr. Ablakwa said the two governments strongly condemned the latest violent extremist assault in the northern Burkinabè town of Titao, which killed several civilians, including Ghanaian nationals.
“We have decided to deepen our security cooperation,” he stated. “We are currently negotiating a security framework which will help us to work together and collectively to neutralise these violent extremists.”
He stressed that Ghana and Burkina Faso are determined to prevent the sub-region from becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups.
“We do not want our region to become the haven of these terrorists. We don’t like the fact that this has become the epicentre of global terror,” he said.
Mr Ablakwa warned that leaders in the region are united in their commitment to address extremism.
“We are determined as leaders to uproot this canker and to make sure that these violent extremists are neutralised,” Mr. Ablakwa added.
The minister also renewed Ghana’s condolences to the families of the victims and commiserated with the people of Burkina Faso over the tragic incident.
He further commended the Government of Burkina Faso for its swift emergency response, particularly in assisting injured Ghanaians.
“We want to thank the government of Burkina Faso for the rapid response in helping us to evacuate our injured and airlifting them back to Ghana,” he said.
Ghana's Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, said last Monday that a truck carrying the tomato traders was caught up in the armed assault on the town of Titao last Saturday.
Mr. Mubarak said the truck was carrying 10 men and eight women when armed fighters attacked Titao shooting male residents and travellers on sight.
“The jihadists ran into the town and started rounding up almost everybody, especially the males, targeting to kill every male just on sight,” Mr. Mubarak said.
“They separated the males from the females and went on the street and sprayed, killing almost all the males,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Burkina Faso and Ghana on FRiday signed a number of cooperation agreements in Ouagadougou, the Burkinabe Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a press release.
The agreements were signed during the ministerial meeting of the 13th Joint High Commission for Cooperation between the two countries by Mr. Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso and Mr. Ablakwa.
The agreements cover transport and transit; mutual recognition of national driving licences; the prevention and management of disasters and humanitarian crises; and combating the illicit cultivation, production, manufacture and trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and related matters.
Others are cross-border cooperation framework agreement; a memorandum of understanding relating to the establishment of a joint commission for the reaffirmation of the border between the two countries; and a memorandum of understanding relating to the establishment of periodic consultation frameworks between border administrative authorities of the two States.
-0- PANA MA 21Feb2026
