Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), have agreed to further strengthen their bilateral relations, particularly in areas of security and trade.
This was made known when DR Congo’s President, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House on Thursday as part of his two-day official state visit to Ghana.
Addressing the Press with his counterpart after closed-door bilateral talks with the DRC delegation, President Akufo-Addo said relations between Ghana and DRC go way back to that country’s independence.
The first serious foreign policy initiative of Ghana, according to President Akufo-Addo, was when Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah dispatched Ghanaian troops to assist the DRC’s Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, under the UN peacekeeping mandate “and ever since Ghana has become a peacekeeping country sending troops.”
“So, these are strong relations and we think that the time has come to enhance and build those relations even stronger than they have been in the past. We are very happy to have you here,” President Akufo-Addo added.
With security situations in both West and Central Africa, President Akufo-Addo said there were matters of common interest in terms of security for Ghana and DR Congo.
The President told his colleague President that there were a lot of security issues in West Africa—a jihadist menace that come from the Sahel region which had reached Burkina Faso to north Ghana —just like the security threats that faced Central Africa, adding: “I think that provides us an opportunity to be able to have some clear ideas of how we can all work together to rid our continent of this [Jihadist and terrorist activities] menace.”
DRC President, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, on his part, said the volatile security situation in his country was largely the support that was given to rebels fighting his country by neighbouring Rwanda.
President Akufo-Addo subsequently hosted President Tshisekedi and his delegation to a state lunch at the banquet hall of Jubilee House.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
