UK-Ghana Security Dialogue Communique 2023: joint statement
Published 13 December 2023
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Regional security
The UK and Ghana agree that Regional Security remains a priority, and that solutions to regional security must be led by countries of the region. Ghana and the UK remain committed to work through the Accra Initiative as a regionally led initiative in response to violent extremism and committed to work collaboratively to progress this vision.
Military co-operation
The United Kingdom and Ghana reaffirm the longstanding and deep relationship between our armed forces and underscore its importance. As an important strategic ally, the United Kingdom values its collaborative and partnership-based approach with Ghana based on mutual appreciation of the quality of armed forces, as well as shared doctrine in key areas.
The United Kingdom and Ghana have agreed to expand existing defence cooperation and partnership to promote Ghana’s regional leadership role, focussing on the following 4 areas:
- army special operations
- information operations
- targeting
- riverine and maritime collaboration
Together, these will build the capability of the Ghanaian security services to lead on the response to instability in the region, particularly the threat from violent extremist activity. We look forward to agreeing further specifics at staff talks in 2024.
Human security approaches
The United Kingdom and Ghana commit to take a comprehensive approach, comprising non-kinetic and kinetic interventions, to tackle the threats of radicalisation of populations and to mitigate the evolving risks to peace and stability. This includes prioritising good governance, oversight and accountability in the security sector.
The United Kingdom is focused on supporting Ghana’s efforts to tackle the challenging and fast-evolving set of threats to Ghana’s security, helping to shore up peace. Both countries noted that, as part of efforts to support Ghana and other countries in the region, the UK had agreed a new West Africa Stability Programme. This would help build resilience to, and counter, violent extremism in the region, working through a range of interventions with governments and non-government partners.
Ghana’s National Security Strategy sets out clearly the need for a human centred approach to security, and the UK will continue to support its delivery through governmental and non-governmental channels. The United Kingdom and Ghana agree that a comprehensive approach to tackling drivers of instability is the most sustainable way of achieving security.
The United Kingdom and Ghana will engage on a set of priorities in this area, including:
- provision of an external expert to support Ghana’s risk analysis to better understand and anticipate vulnerabilities
- technical assistance to further develop early warning mechanisms
- work together in international fora to secure support for Ghanaian led efforts on regional security
The UK will continue to:
- support Ghana to enhance good relations between security forces and local communities, particularly in northern regions susceptible to the spill over of violent extremism and mainstream conflict prevention approaches, with a focus on integration and support of excluded groups
- strengthen the capabilities of Ghana’s security sector in the prevention of violent extremism
- improve coordination between Ghana’s security institutions
- support the security sector in upholding democratic principles ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election
- assist the security sector with translating existing policies on human rights into practice
Ghana and the United Kingdom recognise the growing threat from mis- and disinformation, and will work together to build resilience to this in state and non-state institutions.
Counter terrorism
The United Kingdom and Ghana agree to continue engaging on Ghana’s CT approach, building on current lines of activity including incident response and intelligence-led approaches.
Serious Organised Crime
The United Kingdom and Ghana commit to continue to strengthen our collaboration in tackling Serious Organised Crime and build on already effective relations between agencies to increase efforts to disrupt and dismantle the business models of Organised Criminal Groups. The UK will support Ghana to develop and implement a SOC strategy, and once developed both countries will identify synergies in their respective national SOC strategies to guide operational engagement.
The United Kingdom and Ghana will further deepen collaboration to disrupt the SOC criminals and networks which impose the highest harm, and to reduce vulnerabilities of individuals, businesses and communities to exploitation from SOC criminals and networks associated with the trafficking of narcotics, cyber-enabled fraud and illicit finance, including illegal gold flows.
The United Kingdom and Ghana agree that illicit finance is one of the highest priority threats across North and West Africa and will continue to be the main focus of programming.
The United Kingdom and Ghana agree that gold smuggling and gold-based money laundering (GBML) is also an emerging priority. The United Kingdom is committed to continue supporting Ghana to tackle illegal gold mining through the Ghana Gold programme, ensuring this remains targeted on the key Serious Organised Crime issues, like smuggling and GBML.
The United Kingdom remains committed to tackling other forms of illicit finance and will continue to support key Ghanaian agencies including Narcotics Control Commission, Economic and Organised Crime Office and the Financial Intelligence Centre.
The United Kingdom and Ghana will work together to better understand networks supported by illicit finance and illegal gold mining and trade and ensure our future programming remains targeted.
Extradition
The United Kingdom and Ghana recognise the importance of a fully functioning extradition arrangement through the London Scheme, in the interests of justice and the victims of crime in both Ghana and The United Kingdom.
Fraud
The United Kingdom and Ghana agree that fraud is an increasing threat to citizens of both countries and will ensure that law enforcement collaboration targets fraud as a priority.
The United Kingdom’s capacity building has supported law enforcement agencies in Ghana to address these threats. The United Kingdom will increase funding to enable more of this work.
The United Kingdom and Ghana agree to work in partnership on tackling fraud, and to build up the evidence base to better understand the threat.
The United Kingdom and Ghana will develop a memorandum of understanding between our governments to formalise this relationship, covering fraud policy, prevention and deterrence.