By Evans Worlanyo Ameamu
Keta (VR) Feb 21, GNA-Security analyst Godson Bill Ocloo has stated that the recent terrorist attack in Burkina Faso that claimed the lives of Ghanaian tomato traders was a stark warning of the evolving conflict landscape in West Africa.
“That’s where economic lifelines, civilian livelihoods and cross-border trade corridors are increasingly under threat,” said
Mr Ocloo said the attack signaled a shift from conventional conflict to the civilianisation of violence which exposed ordinary people to unprecedented risk and directly threatened human security.
Mr Ocloo, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said that checks from the Global Terrorism Index 2024, revealed that the Sahel Region accounts for nearly half of all terrorism-related deaths worldwide, with Burkina Faso consistently ranking among the most affected countries.
“The attack illustrates the profound human security implications, targeting economic actors, farmers, transport operators, and traders to disrupt regional livelihoods, destabilise communities, and weaken confidence in governance structures,” he said.
He explained that West Africa’s economy relies heavily on informal cross-border trade, which constitutes 30-40 per cent of intra-regional commerce, according to the World Bank (2020).
He emphasised that the ripple effects of the attack were immediate and wide-ranging, including loss of household income, disruption to food distribution networks, volatility in commodity prices, increased transport costs, and heightened regional economic uncertainty.
“Ghana, historically regarded as a pillar of stability in West Africa, shares a deeply interconnected border economy with Burkina Faso. Northern markets are heavily reliant on Sahelian agricultural flows,” Mr Ocloo said.
He said that the buffer zone between the Sahel’s high-intensity conflict areas and West Africa’s coastal economies is narrowing, and without proactive measures, attacks on economic actors could contract cross-border trade, escalate food prices, increase humanitarian burdens, and strain local governance systems.
He suggested that a human security lens is essential to address the crisis, which would include protecting individuals and their livelihoods over territorial or state-centric approaches, and
added that the Burkina Faso attack undermined freedom from fear, freedom from want, and the preservation of dignity.
Mr Ocloo, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Africa Centre for Human Security and Emergency Management (ACHSEM), stressed that economic actors are not peripheral to security, and protecting trade corridors must be fundamental.
He said to address the crisis, ECOWAS must develop a structured Economic Corridor Protection Mechanism, integrating coordinated patrols, risk mapping, intelligence-sharing, and contingency protocols along high-risk trade routes to protect lives.
He mentioned that the traders, transport unions, and agricultural cooperatives are the frontline observers of emerging risks and should be formally integrated into regional early warning systems.
He urged the governments and regional institutions to explore micro-insurance schemes and compensation frameworks to shield vulnerable traders from economic collapse after attacks.
Investing in border community resilience, including youth employment, agricultural value chains, infrastructure, and local governance, can enhance resilience and reduce the appeal of armed groups.
He added that intelligence-led civilian protection, predictive analytics, route surveillance, and well-structured intelligence-sharing across Sahelian and coastal states are necessary to preempt attacks on traders.
Mr Ocloo said the attack on Ghanaian tomato traders was a worrying situation which should serve as a wake-up call for human security in West Africa and remind the public that peace and stability are inseparable from the protection of livelihoods, markets, and communities.
He said West Africa must act decisively to safeguard economic corridors and operationalise human security, protect trade and people, and ensure the future of West African stability.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Benjamin Mensah