Ghana president warns Islamist militancy could destabilise west Africa
Argentina Star Thursday 30th May, 2013
• Mahama said no country was safe if insurgency was allowed to take hold elsewhere
• He backed the African Union's plan to create a rapid reaction force.
• He suggested it could be funded by a tax on air travel and hotels across the continent
ACCRA - Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama has warned that Islamist militancy poses a threat that could destabilize the whole of West Africa.
Mahama told the BBC that although Ghana had not been directly affected, no country was safe if insurgency was allowed to take hold elsewhere.
He said intervention led by France had helped guarantee stability in Mali, but the conflict there was not yet over.
He also backed the African Union's plan to create a rapid reaction force.
Mahama said there had been a suggestion that it could be funded by a tax on air travel and hotels across the continent.
In January, French forces spearheaded an operation to drive out Al-Qaeda and other allied Islamist groups from northern Mali, where they had seized control in the chaos following a coup last year.
Mahamna said the incident showed how the whole Sahel region -- the semiarid region of western and north-central Africa - had "become an attractive foothold for insurgents".
"If we allow that foothold to consolidate, then it could affect the stability of our entire region," Mahama told the BBC's Newsday programme.
Despite regaining territory from Islamist groups in Mali, he said the crisis was not over.
Despite regaining territory from Islamist groups in Mali, he said the crisis was not over.
"There is the danger of asymmetric attacks like we saw in Niger the last few days, and so it is a matter that worries all of us in the sub-region," he said.
"And we need to act collectively as a sub-region and a continent and indeed globally to be able to ensure peace and stability."
Suicide assaults last week in Niger on a military base and French-run uranium mine, and a siege in January of the gas plant in Algeria reveal the insurgents' ruthless tactics.
And the start of the withdrawal of French troops from Mali, four months after recapturing northern cities from Islamist insurgents, is being touted by the militants on internet forums as the beginning of their victory.
Militants and armed radical groups have expanded and entrenched their positions throughout the Sahel and Sahara over the last decade under the umbrella of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM).
The Ghana president is visiting the Japanese city of Yokohama to attend the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
The June 1 to 3 Conference is bringing together a number of African leaders as Japan promotes dialogue and mobilizes support for Africa's development initiatives.
The June 1 to 3 Conference is bringing together a number of African leaders as Japan promotes dialogue and mobilizes support for Africa's development initiatives.
Launched in 1993, TICAD has evolved into a major global framework for the facilitation of initiatives promoting African development under the "dual principle of African ownership and international partnership".
Accompanying the President is his wife, Lordina, who will join other First Ladies in a number of programmes including a symposium on HIV AIDS and eliminating Mother to Child Transmission..
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