Ghana’s valuable trade and economic ties with countries in the Sahel Region are on the verge of further deterioration as reports indicate there is a heightened activity of a jihadist militant in the northern part of the country.
Already, the country’s trade with the Sahel is saddled with border and customs issues, tarrifs challenges, inadequate infrastructure such as transportation, political instability, and other security concerns.
Reuters reports that a jihadist group, JNIM which is well-known to be connected to the famous al-Qaeda is currently expanding its reach in Ghana’s northern regions. According to the report, the Islamist militants are exploiting the northern part of Ghana as a haven for their logistical and medical supplies.
JNIM, the Reuters report says is using northern Ghana as a base to stock food, fuel, medical supplies, explosives including a haven to treat their injured militants.
This development, security analysts interpret to be a signal of a possible impending surge in their operations in the Sahel Region in the coming days.
Government has come out to debunk the Reuters story. However there are concerns the fear among trader will still affect the free flow of goods and services.
This troubling situation has far-reaching and serious implications for trade and security in the region especially between Ghana and countries in the Sahel Region.
Despite the challenges associated with Ghana’s trade with the region, countries in the Sahel play a crucial role in Ghana’s food import as Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso are the destination Ghana imports critical food items such as onion and tomatoes. Some staple food items such as millet, sorghum, and shea nut among others are mainly imported from Burkina Faso and Mali.
Given the nomadic occupation of the majority of the countries in the Sahel Region, they are a significant supplier of livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goats alongside their meat and other products.
The opposite is also true as Ghana is their import destination for most of their commodities. Canned products, soft drinks, juices, beverages, cocoa-based products, rice, oil, toiletries, and textiles among others are mostly imported by these countries from Ghana.
It is also worthy of note that since the Sahel Region is a land-locked area, most of the countries’ imports from the West pass through Ghana’s harbours which are then hauled by land to these countries.
The United Nations COMTrade database reveals that the value of Ghana’s exports to Burkina Faso alone was estimated at US$ 441.16 in 2023.
Exports to Niger alone in 2023 were estimated at around US$ 61 million while US$ 165 million worth of goods were exported from Ghana to Mali in the same period (Trading Economics).
Senegal also imported over US$ 46 million worth of goods and services from Ghana in 2023. Other countries in the region, such as Chad and Mauritania also serve as export destinations for many of Ghana’s products (Trading Economics).
The development of heightened activities in the northern part of Ghana has far-reaching implications for trade and investment.
The northern region of Ghana is a crucial transit corridor for goods moving in and out of the Sahel Region especially given that most of these countries are land-locked. The development could disrupt the high-valued trade between Ghana and the region by disrupting supply chains, discouraging investment and further worsening the economic growth and development in the region.
In addition to disrupting trade, operations of the jihadist groups in Ghana’s northern part are also a threat to Ghana’s tourism reputation. The possibility of violence and instability could deter tourists from visiting Ghana to explore our rich tourist and cultural heritage. That will also mean a huge millions of dollars in revenue lost by the country as the tourism sector is a huge contributing factor to Ghana’s economy.
Analysts say support from the international community is crucial as Ghana strengthens its efforts to combat terrorism and foster stability across the region. Failure to do so could have significant repercussions, extending well beyond West Africa.
