The Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. William Agyapong, has warned that violent extremist groups operating in the Sahel are probing further south toward Ghana, after extending their reach into northern parts of West Africa, raising fresh concerns for the country’s northern boundary.
According to Lt. Gen. Agyapong, the regional security environment has changed “dramatically” and now demands urgent, coordinated responses from Ghana and its partners.
He was speaking on behalf of Deputy Defence Minister Ernest Brogya Gyenfi at the 50th Anniversary Republic Day Public Lecture at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Teshie.
The CDS stated that extremist groups in the Sahel have now become adaptive, well-resourced and patient in their expansion — and their activities have already spilled into neighbouring countries.
“They have already penetrated the northern belt of our neighbours to the north and are probing further south. Indeed, some of our compatriots have fallen victim,” he said, referencing recent attacks in the sub-region, including the killing of Ghanaian traders in Titao, Burkina Faso, in February.
Maritime threats in the south
Lt. Gen. Agyapong also raised alarm over growing insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, saying criminal networks operating at sea are increasingly linked to broader organised crime systems that overlap with extremist financing and logistics.
He said Ghana has recorded several incidents of robbery at sea, including attacks on fishermen in which outboard motors are stolen and victims left stranded, describing it as a serious threat to the country’s blue economy and coastal livelihoods.
Ghana, he stressed, sits between two converging security threats — violent extremism from the Sahel to the north and maritime crime in the Gulf to the south — a reality he said must be treated as a “planning priority” rather than an alarmist claim.
“This is not an alarmist observation. It is a planning reality that requires our full attention,” he said.
Military retooling under way
The CDS disclosed that government is undertaking significant retooling of the Ghana Armed Forces to strengthen border security, maritime surveillance and overall operational readiness.
He urged policymakers, security experts and academia to deepen collaboration, arguing that Ghana’s security outcomes will depend on the quality of strategic thinking produced in forums such as the Command and Staff College.
He also called on officers in training to build not just tactical competence but strategic and ethical clarity, noting that modern threats increasingly exploit governance gaps, community grievances and ungoverned spaces rather than conventional battlefield confrontations.
He closed by pointing to the Command and Staff College’s 50-year legacy of producing senior military leaders across Africa, saying the institution must evolve to anticipate and shape emerging security threats, not merely respond to them — describing the Sahel as “a warning” and the Gulf of Guinea as “riding the storm.”
