Ghana and EU sign defence partnership

Ghana and the European Union have signed their first formal defence partnership, as the country presents itself as a regional bulwark against the growing jihadist violence roiling west Africa. According to africanews, the agreement, signed in Accra by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Ghanaian Vice-President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, is aimed at strengthening co-operation in areas including counterterrorism, intelligence sharing and crisis response. It comes as coastal west African nations seek to prevent a spillover of violence from the neighbouring Sahel, where armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have intensified attacks in recent years. The agreement builds on a broader $54m EU support package delivered since 2023, which has included advanced communication systems and boats aimed at bolstering Ghana's border security. The Ghanaian military will also receive surveillance drones, ‘anti-drone guns’ and motorcycles, Kallas said. Ghana's National Security Co-ordinator Osman Abdul-Razak said the partnership comes at a time of evolving threats at both national and regional levels. The country shares a border with Burkina Faso, which, combined with other countries in the Sahel, accounted for nearly half of all terrorism-related deaths for the third consecutive year in 2025, according to a tally from the Global Terrorism Report released this month