By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Ghana and Burkina Faso have signed a comprehensive Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) to establish joint military escorts and address growing security threats along critical cross-border trade corridors.
The agreement provides for a coordinated military framework to protect commercial transit from insurgent attacks, safeguard regional supply chains and strengthen bilateral relations.
The defence pact was signed by Ghana’s Acting Minister for Defence, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, and Burkina Faso’s Minister of State and Minister of War and Patriotic Defence, Major General Célestin Simporé.
Under the agreement, the two countries will deploy targeted security operations and provide armed military escorts for transit trucks.
The immediate priority is to safeguard the movement of goods between landlocked Burkina Faso and maritime trade networks through Ghana.
The security arrangement follows a shift in regional transit patterns. Amid recent political tensions between Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, Ouagadougou has diverted a significant volume of its import and export trade away from the Port of Abidjan.
Burkinabè trade has consequently shifted towards Ghana’s Tema and Takoradi ports. The increased movement of cargo has made the Tema-Ouagadougou trade corridor a vital economic artery, while also exposing it to potential attacks by armed groups operating in the Sahel and along border areas.
The defence agreement operationalises strategic frameworks established under the recent Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation (PJCC).
Beyond protecting cargo trucks, the pact provides for increased intelligence sharing and strengthened border controls to combat terrorism and cross-border smuggling networks.
Joint military deployments and coordinated border patrols along the main trade corridors are expected to begin immediately.
