Africa needs fair financial support to fight terrorism – Akufo-Addo to US, UK, EU
Akufo-Addo said available data points shows that the West is offering hug support to others countries but are paying lip service to Africa
President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has made a fervent appeal to global super powers such as the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) to offer the Africa continent proportionate financial support as is being offered to other countries like Ukraine and Israel to back their own fight against aggression and acts of terrorism in their jurisdictions.
Statistics and information available according to President Akufo-Addo, points to the fact that the big players of the world are offering hug financial support to some troubled regions but they are paying lip service to the Africa Continent even though the continent is currently confronting very serious economic challenges and the threat of terrorism and violent extremism.
President Akufo-Ado indicated that it is time for big global players to respect and implement the provisions of Chapter seven (7) of the United Nations (UN) Charter, which is on “Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression” and chapter eight (8), which is on “Regional Arrangements”.
Disproportionate support
President Akufo-Addo made this known when he delivered an address in Washington DC at governance and peace event organised by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on the theme; “Democracy and Security in West Africa” on Thursday, 12 October 2023.
“The eleven (11) Member States of the fifteen (15) Member States of ECOWAS, the four (4) military-led States having been suspended, despite the considerable economic difficulties confronting each of them, have made clear their willingness to take the fight to the terrorists, if they were sufficiently empowered.
“The terrorists, as we all know, were chased out of the Middle East and Afghanistan before taking refuge in Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, from where they fled across the Sahara to find refuge in northern Mali after Gaddafi’s downfall. They have spread their pernicious influence eastwards and southwards, with the coastal states of West Africa their ultimate destination.
“They can be chased out of West Africa and the Sahel too. Foreign troops would not have to be involved. West African troops can do the job. The Accra Initiative is a good example of indigenous self-help. Comparisons, they say, are odious, but some cannot be ignored” President Akufo-Addo said.
“The Russian war on Ukraine has elicited, according to my information, some seventy-three-point-six billion United States dollars (US$73.6 billion) in American support for Ukraine, one hundred and thirty-eight point eight billion United States dollars (US$138.8 billion) from the European Union and its Institutions, and fourteen-point-five billion United States dollars (US$14.5 billion) from the United Kingdom.
“On the other hand, the security assistance from the US, the EU and the UK to ECOWAS have, in total, in the same period, amounted to twenty-nine-point-six million dollars (US$29.6 million)” the President added.
Africa on the cusp
In his address, President Akufo-Addo noted that inspite of the serious challenges confronting the African Continent and particularly, the ECOWAS region, he is confident that the African continent will surmount the difficulties and build back strongly.
“I believe strongly that, despite its numerous challenges, Africa is on the cusp of building a great, new civilisation, which will unleash the considerable energies and huge potential of the African peoples, so that they can make their own unique contribution to the growth of world civilisation.
“By 2050, the population of Africa will be 2.5 billion, all things being equal, up from the current figure of 1.3 billion, which will mean that one in four people on the planet will be an African. The median age of this population will be twenty-five (25) years” Akufo-Addo said.
“A dynamic, young, active population, sitting on the resources of the world’s richest continent in mineral resources and arable land, would be a powerful magnet for transformative investment and co-operation. Its potential to generate unprecedented levels of global prosperity are immense. Pax Africana is to be welcomed and cherished” he added.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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