Ghana must be gravely concerned about coups in West Africa – Adib Saani

Coups serve as fertile grounds for terrorist groups to thrive – Security Analyst

Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabab establish camps in countries during coups – Security Analyst

Chaos in neighbouring countries could spill over to Ghana due to porous borders – Adib Saani

A security expert, Adib Saani has indicated that the national security apparatus of Ghana must be gravely concerned about the frequency of coups in West Africa.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, Adib Saani said it would be a mistake for Ghana to consider the recent military takeovers in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso as domestic.
According to him, terrorist groups take advantage of the chaos caused by coups to set up camps.

“According to a US Department of State report published in 2002, usually terrorists take advantage of political upheavals in countries to establish foot forward like it happened in Suban in 1990s where Al-Qaeda established it's base there and of course it happened in Somalia 1990s when Al-Shabab established a foot hold there,” he told GhanaWeb.

Adib Saani said the coups and the chaos associated with them in neighbouring countries would have serious effects on Ghana.

“Coups would have very serious effects (on Ghana); in the midst of all the chaos terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabab, ISIS in the Greater Sahara would take advantage of the confusion to reorganise, resupply logistics and of course move around and Ghana is certainly part of the whole area in which there could be movements,” he said.

He added that the porous borders of Ghana even made things worse.

“Terrorists from Burkina Faso can move into the country particularly owing to how porous our borders are, not coming to stage attacks but perhaps to establish sleeper cells for maybe attacks in the future,” Adib added.

Source: ghanaweb.com