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The government of neighboring Burkina Faso is claimed to have handed Russian mercenaries a mine as payment for their assistance in quelling an insurrection there, according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
According to a statement from the department, President Akufo-Addo brought up the allegations at a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday when he was in Washington for the US-Africa Leaders Summit.
According to Akufo-Addo, the mine is close to Ghana’s northern border with Burkina Faso, which exploited the enterprise to pay Wagner Group for its services.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is in charge of the organization, which is a mercenary firm.
He stated that his country was particularly concerned about the Wagner Group’s presence because of Ghana’s criticism of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
“To have them operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana,” Nana Addo stated.
Moscow has refuted any connections to the organization.
The US embassy in Burkina Faso did not respond to calls or emails, and the country was not invited to the conference in Washington.
According to US estimates, a 1,000-strong mercenary army has been operating in adjacent Mali since 2021, helping to defend the military junta that has ruled the country since 2020.
The existence of Wagner troops has been disputed by the Mali government.
Akufo-Addo urged the US to collaborate with the Economic Community of West African States to defend the democratically endangered states in the region.
It’s crucial that we bring this to your attention and investigate our options for working with you as a dependable partner in the pushback of those forces, he added.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
