President John Dramani Mahama has hailed the Ghana-Mali relations, underscoring Ghana’s commitment towards ensuring the security of the West Africa subregion from terrorism and insurgency.
“We know what is happening in the geopolitics of our sub-region and the unfortunate situation that is unfolding in the Sahel,” he noted.
“It is not anything that is new, but it continues to become graver than it was in the past, and I’m talking about the issue of insurgency and terrorism.”
President Mahama stated this when Malian Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga delivered a special message to him in Accra from President Assimi Goita on Thursday.
President Mahama said the security of the subregion was a common objective, which necessitates the need for the countries to work with each other to ensure its safety.
“We have noted the sovereign decisions of not only Mali but Burkina Faso and Niger to form a separate confederation. But despite that, God put us together in this sub-region for a purpose,” he said.
Quoting a Ghanaian proverb, he said: “If your neighbour’s house is on fire, you must assist him to douse it, otherwise the fire will spread to your own house”.
He said notwithstanding the setbacks the subregion faced, the countries must continue to keep their relations strong.
“And I believe that eventually we’ll be able to integrate ourselves again as one body. And so, Ghana continues to remain a neighbour and strong in solidarity with Mali,” President Mahama said.
He said West Africans continued to intermarry, trade among themselves and had relationships that went beyond their individual countries.
There was a significant Malian population in Ghana and the government continued to ensure their safety to contribute their quota to national economic progress.
He assured the Malian President of free flow of trade and free movement of people between the two countries.
President Mahama expressed satisfaction with the Ghana-Mali relations, dating back to the era of Ghana’s founding President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, and Modibo Keïta, Mali’s first President.
That union also included Guinea, which was then called the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union, irrespective of them not having been able to achieve African unity.
He noted the stalled progress in terms of technical cooperation between the two countries, saying the last meeting was held in 2011, and those discussions should have continued in 2012 in Mali, but, unfortunately, the situation at the time did not permit it.
He said they were anxious to revive that process to facilitate the exchange of technical teams to look at any bottlenecks that existed to make their relations stronger.
President Mahama extended his appreciation to President Goita for sending a powerful delegation to honour him during his inauguration on January 7.
He said when his administration settled down, he would be happy to exchange visits at the highest level, either with President Goita visiting Ghana or he visiting Mali.
Prime Minister Maiga, on his part, said President Mahama’s election was a victory for Pan-Africanism.
He said both presidents Goita and Mahama had what it took to enforce cooperation between the two countries in terms of economic matters and in security.
Source: GNA
The post Ghana and Mali pledge to upscale fight against insurgency, terrorism appeared first on Ghana Business News.
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