Burkina Faso has recalled its ambassador in Ghana for consultations.
It comes after Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo accused the neighbouring country of inviting mercenaries from the Russian firm Wagner.
Ghana’s ambassador to Burkina Faso was also been summoned for a meeting on Friday morning at the foreign affairs ministry.
President Akufo-Addo made the claim on Tuesday during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the side-lines of the US-Africa summit in Washington.
He described the development as distressing.
Akufo-Addo said he understood that the Wagner group had been offered a mine in southern Burkina Faso as a form of payment for services – presumably fighting Islamist militants.
In a video of the meeting with the US secretary of state, Mr Akufo-Addo describes the development as particularly worrying seeing as Ghana strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The possibility of Burkina Faso using the Wagner group to fight jihadists in the country has been the subject of debate for several months and prompted warnings from Western powers.
But there has not yet been an official confirmation about an agreement between the group and Burkina Faso, even though Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyelem recently visited Russia.
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Source: Africafeeds.com
