The government yesterday convened a High-Level Consultative Conference on Regional Cooperation and Security in Accra, bringing together government officials, ministers and regional partners to confront escalating security threats facing West Africa and the Sahel.

The conference aimed at forging renewed and practical frameworks for collective action against terrorism, violent extremism, transnational organised crime and maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea.

The two-day conference, which began yesterday and ended today, January 30, 2026, is expected to culminate in a summit of participating Heads of State and Government.

Opening the conference, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said the meeting was necessitated by the deteriorating security situation in the sub-region, which now accounts for nearly half of global terrorism incidents.

He described the gathering as a defining moment to rethink how countries in the region respond to shared threats that transcend national borders.

“On average, there are eight terror attacks every day in our region, claiming about 44 lives daily, and over the past 15 years terror attacks in the region have increased by more than 1,200 per cent, with deaths rising by almost 3,000 per cent,” he stressed.

The Minister noted that the epicentre of global terrorism had shifted from the Middle East to West Africa and the Sahel, warning that no country could consider itself immune.

He cited a last-minute attack on Niger’s airport in Niamey in the early hours of Wednesday night, which prevented that country’s delegation from travelling to Accra, as a stark reminder of the daily security realities confronting the region.

Mr Ablakwa said the conference would examine security threats alongside governance and socio-economic challenges, stressing that intelligence must go beyond kinetic threats to include climate stress, food insecurity, youth unemployment and fragile border communities that extremists exploit.

“Our strength lies in unity,” he said, calling for the establishment of an agreed regional vehicle to address trans-border threats and overcome fragmentation, mistrust and limited intelligence sharing.

Mr Ablakwa urged intelligence chiefs to build confidence through transparency, commit domestic resources, integrate security with development and governance, and invest in early warning systems to anticipate risks before they escalate.

The Minister for the Interior, Mr Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, reinforced the urgency of collective action, describing the current security landscape as one of “unprecedented complexity and intensity.”

He said terrorism and violent extremism had expanded in scale and sophistication, with armed groups exploiting governance gaps, economic hardship and environmental pressures to entrench their influence.

Recent months, he noted, had seen increased attacks on military installations, civilian centres and critical infrastructure, worsening humanitarian conditions and triggering mass displacement.

“The Sahel now accounts for over half of global terrorism deaths,” Mr Mohammed-Mubarak stated.

The Minister stressed that security challenges were deeply intertwined with structural vulnerabilities such as climate-induced resource scarcity, food insecurity, youth unemployment, weak transport corridors and porous borders, which criminal networks and extremists exploit for recruitment and illicit activities.

While acknowledging the contributions of existing mechanisms such as ECOWAS and the African Union, he called for renewed strategic direction and stronger coordination.

Mr Mohammed-Mubarak emphasised that the outcomes of the intelligence chiefs’ deliberations would directly inform the ministerial session and shape the communiqué and decisions to be considered by Heads of State at the summit.