Mr. Gambilla added that the Burkinabe authorities perfectly understood the weight and objective of the comments president Akufo-Addo made in his capacity as the chairman of the Accra Initiative and said it may have had different interpretations without his explanations.
“The president, being the chairman of the Accra Initiative took the initiative to comment on the happenings in the sub-region to be able to tell partners that they need to move in to help Burkina Faso fight the insurgency, so my invitation was to explain the intent behind the message.”
The Accra Initiative aims to prevent a spillover of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organized crime within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
It is an African-led, African-executed initiative that would depend solely on the armed forces of its member states.
President Akufo-Addo during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of a US-Africa Leaders Summit alleged that the government of Burkina Faso had given Russian mercenaries a mine as payment to help fight an insurgency in their country.
Akufo-Addo remarked during the meeting that “Russian mercenaries are on our northern border” and “Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in employing the Wagner forces there.”
His comments were widely condemned and resulted in Burkinabe authorities issuing a summon to Ghana’s ambassador to the country.
source: citinewsroom.com
