According to a sad report, a Ghanaian driver has been shot by gunmen suspected to be terrorists who went further to burn several trucks which were carting food from Niger to Ghana.
Fortunately, the driver in question did not sustain any fatal injuries and is currently receiving medical attention at a health facility in Niger.
The driver was part of a group of divers who opted to utilize the Burkina Faso route to transport food to Ghana, as they were unable to cross the Niger borders due to their closure following the military coup in the country. This situation has resulted in a disagreement with the regional bloc ECOWAS.
According to Joy News, the drivers attempted to cross the Burkina Faso border without security escorts after waiting for an extended period without success.
However, before they could successfully cross, a group of terrorists launched an armed attack on them, resulting in the burning of approximately four trucks. Massahoudu Dambala, the owner of Damabala Enterprise, which operates approximately 35 trucks for food transportation from Niger to Ghana, provided an account of the incident to Joynews. He stated that the drivers refused to comply with the terrorists’ instructions to stop.
“They were standing there waiting for escorts but they were not coming so one of the cars decided to go ahead and when they succeeded, ours also said let’s try and see. Immediately we started moving, the jihadist people started coming out.
“They tried to stop them but they refused, not knowing that they were many. They started shooting them so some of them returned and some abandoned their trucks.
“Our car was in front so when they got there, they burned the car. The car had about 450 bags of beans so they burnt the car together with about 3 or 4 cars,” he is quoted to have told Accra-based Joy News.
On July 26, 2023, a coup d’état took place in the Republic of Niger, resulting in the removal and detention of President Mohamed Bazoum by the country’s presidential guard. General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the commander of the presidential guard, declared himself the leader of a military junta shortly after confirming the success of the coup.
In response to this development, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) issued an ultimatum on July 30, 2023, giving the coup leaders one week to reinstate President Bazoum or face international sanctions and the use of force. The deadline for the ultimatum expired on August 6, prompting ECOWAS to order the immediate activation of its standby force on August 10.
It is worth noting that ECOWAS has previously intervened in The Gambia to restore democracy following the country’s constitutional crisis between 2016 and 2017.
All active member states of ECOWAS, with the exception of Cape Verde, have pledged to contribute military troops from their armed forces in the event of an ECOWAS-led military intervention against the Nigerien junta. However, the military juntas of Burkina Faso and Mali have threatened to join the military intervention on Niger’s side if it were to ever be launched.
