Following the government’s pledge to “design and adopt a new security framework aimed at neutralising the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism” after terrorists attacked and killed Ghanaian tomato traders, Ghana and Burkina Faso have signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement to provide security and escort support along cross-border trade corridors.
The agreement was signed in Accra on Monday, August 10, 2026, as part of efforts by the two countries to strengthen security cooperation and protect traders and the movement of goods along their shared trade routes.
The Ministry of Defence, in a statement said the agreement was signed by Ghana’s Acting Minister for Defence, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, and Burkina Faso’s Minister of State and Minister of War and Patriotic Defence, Major General Célestin Simporé.
The signing was witnessed by the Deputy Minister for Defence, Ernest Brogya Genfi, the Chief Director of the Ministry, Emmanuel Kartey, the Burkina Faso Ambassador to Ghana, David Kabre, and the Chief of the Defence Staff, Lieutenant General William Agyapong.
Also present were directors of the Ministry, heads of various directorates of the Ghana Armed Forces and members of the Burkinabè delegation.
The Ministry said the Defence Cooperation Agreement aimed to safeguard economic stability, secure supply routes and strengthen bilateral defence ties between Ghana and Burkina Faso.
The agreement follows an understanding reached by the two governments in February to design and adopt a new security framework to deal with terrorism and violent extremism.
In a statement issued after his official visit to Burkina Faso in February, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said Ghana and Burkina Faso had condemned the terrorist attacks, expressed condolences to affected families and agreed to develop the new security framework.
The decision came after eight Ghanaian tomato traders were killed in a terrorist attack in Titao, northern Burkina Faso, on February 14, 2026. The attack was claimed by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).
During the visit, the two countries also reactivated the Ghana-Burkina Faso Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation (PJCC), which had been dormant for six years.
Seven agreements were signed at the conclusion of the PJCC. They covered mutual recognition of national driver’s licences, transport and road transit, cross-border cooperation, consultations between border administrative authorities, reaffirmation of the border, disaster management and cooperation in fighting illicit cultivation, production, manufacture and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
In February, the Deputy Minister for Defence also announced measures Ghana had taken to strengthen security along major border routes.
Mr Ernest Brogya Genfi said Ghana had activated two forward operating bases at Jirapa and Hamile, deployed defence attachés to six high-risk countries and intensified surveillance along major border corridors.
