By Murtala Issah
Addressing Ghana’s internal security challenges has been identified as one of the key strategies in warding off the threat of violent extremist organizations operating in the Sahel.
Over the years, violent extremist groups operating in the subregion have taken advantage of political, land, chieftaincy, and ethnic conflicts to gain acceptance and spread their ideology.
In Saboba, a border district in the Northern Region, ethnic clashes in recent years have soured relations and created mutual suspicions among various ethnic groups in the area. Stakeholders fear that, violent extremist groups could take advantage and infiltrate the community.
As part of measures to ward off such threats, the Northern Regional Peace Council has trained stakeholders including women’s groups, the youth and traditional leaders to strengthen their capacity to identify early warning signals to safeguard the community against internal and external threats.
With funding support from DANIDA through UNDP, the Council seeks to equip community members with knowledge on early warning signs and responses to enable them to take early actions to prevent, mitigate, and prepare them to thwart the likelihood of future conflicts.
The project also seeks to strengthen the capacity of individuals at risk and other local key actors to receive, analyze, and act on incoming warnings of conflicts.
Addressing participants at the training programme in Saboba, a member of the Northern Regional Peace Council, Dr. Fatima Iddrisu Abu, emphasized that, “due to the Saboba district’s proximity to Togo, a good number of migrants live in the district.
The porous nature of the border to Togo with some unapproved entry points poses a major threat to the security of the district since VEOs could easily use any of the unapproved routes to infiltrate into the district and further to other parts of the region to perpetuate their activities.”
It is expected that, participants will build a common understanding of early warning signs to analyze and initiate timely responses to prevent violent conflicts in the district.
The Peace Council is also hopeful that, the current initiative will complement existing early warning systems and enhance local data collection as well as serve as a platform for feedback.