Ghana News

Ghana–EU Partnership Becomes ‘Indispensable’ as Sahel Crisis Escalates

Published

4 months ago

December 8, 2025

In the middle of the Sahel desert in northern Mali, a French soldier from the Barkhane force, armed and helmeted, stands protectively in front of a Malian army (FAMA: Forces Armées Maliennes)Image bypicture alliance / Hans Lucas | Frédéric Pétry © (Insert: EU-Ghana flag)

The European Union’s top envoy for the Sahel, João Cravinho, says Ghana has become an indispensable partner in confronting the rapidly deteriorating security landscape across the Sahel.

He warns that the crisis now threatens both West Africa and Europe in equal measure.

According ot the UN, the Sahel, a vast semi-arid region in Africa that includes the countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, is experiencing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian and protection crises.

Cravinho, who wrapped up a three-day mission to Ghana on Friday, December 5, 2025, said the EU’s engagements in Accra and Tamale reaffirmed a simple but urgent truth: the instability stretching from Mali through Burkina Faso to Niger can no longer be viewed as a distant problem.

“We know from experience that terrorist organisations do not stay where they are,” he told journalists after touring the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. “They are a curse for the populations immediately affected, and they become a threat to others. European security is threatened by the establishment of terrorist organisations in the Sahel.”

Indiscriminate attacks by armed groups and militias, insecurity, widespread human right violations, including gender-based violence and violence against children, and the effects of climate change have triggered massive displacements across the Sahel region.

**‘A partnership we need — not just one we want’**

In unusually candid remarks, Cravinho said the EU now sees Ghana as a “reliable and necessary” partner — not only because of its democratic stability, but because of its strategic location at the gateway to coastal West Africa.

His meetings with President John Mahama, Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, top national security officials, and agencies working directly on counter-terrorism, he said, underscored a shared recognition: the next one to two years will be critical for preventing the Sahel’s instability from cascading southward.

Ghanaian officials, he added, repeatedly described the EU as a “fundamental partner” in safeguarding the region — a sentiment he said was matched on the European side.

Why the urgency? Shifting geopolitics and a widening conflict

Cravinho pointed to several factors accelerating the need for closer cooperation: a surge in jihadist activity across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, five coups in three years in the Sahel, Burkina Faso’s conflict spilling toward northern Ghana, shifts in U.S. policy toward Africa, creating new uncertainty in the region’s broader security architecture

Together, he said, these changes demand tighter Ghana–EU coordination — on intelligence, border security, humanitarian support, and long-term development strategies.

Tamale visit: ‘Reading about the Sahel is one thing. Seeing its impact is another.’

Cravinho’s stop in Tamale, close to the Sahel’s southern edge, appears to have made a strong impression.

“It is different to read about the Sahel from a distance,” he said. “Going to the northern region and listening to people on the ground — whether the army, police, immigration or civil society — gives a deeper sense of the pressures and dynamics, particularly from Burkina Faso.”

Local security officials reportedly briefed him on how escalating violence in Burkina Faso has intensified migration pressures and heightened the risk of extremist infiltration.

For Europe, the stakes are equally high. Instability in the Sahel fuels displacement, extremism, and transnational threats that inevitably ripple northward.

Cravinho’s visit — and his unusually blunt warnings — reflect a growing consensus in European diplomatic circles: protecting the Sahel’s southern flank is no longer optional. It is strategic.

And Ghana, he says, will remain central to that effort.

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Ghana Star Thomas Partey Pleads Not Guilty to Two Additional Rape Charges in UK Court

Published

14 hours ago

April 14, 2026

GNG Staff

London, United Kingdom – Ghanaian international footballer Thomas Partey has pleaded not guilty to two additional rape charges, bringing the total number of rape allegations against him to seven.

The 32-year-old Villarreal midfielder appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, where he denied the new charges relating to a fourth woman in December 2020.

Partey had previously pleaded not guilty to five counts of rape involving two women and one count of sexual assault against a third woman, with the alleged offences occurring between 2021 and 2022 while he was playing for Arsenal in the English Premier League.

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Partey was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for €50 million ($58.49 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the first team before leaving the club last summer when his contract expired.

He subsequently joined Spanish La Liga side Villarreal.

The midfielder was released on bail following Monday’s hearing. His trial, originally scheduled to begin in November, could now face further delays due to the additional charges.

The case continues to draw significant attention given Partey’s stature as a prominent player for both Arsenal and the Ghana national team, the Black Stars.

Ghana News

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Published

15 hours ago

April 14, 2026

GNG Staff

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