Following a two-day official visit to Ouagadougou, Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, announced on February 20-21, 2026, that Ghana and Burkina Faso have negotiated a new bilateral security framework and signed seven key agreements.
He said this diplomatic reset was triggered by a “mindless act of terror” on February 14, 2026, in the northern Burkinabe town of Titao, where eight Ghanaian tomato traders were killed and others injured by the al-Qaeda-affiliated group. The new framework aims to formalize high-level cooperation to neutralize violent extremists and prevent the region from becoming a global terror epicentre with formalized intelligence sharing, joint patrols, and coordinated counter-terrorism operations along the Sahelian border corridor.
According to Mr. Ablakwa, this memorandum is to establish a joint commission for the reaffirmation of the border between the two nations with a new partnership to address humanitarian crises and the perennial spillage of the Bagré Dam, which frequently floods northern Ghana.
He revealed that there is now a mutual recognition of national driving licences and a dedicated agreement on transport and road transit to boost intra-African trade as well as a pact focused on combating the illicit production and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
He concluded that the move fulfills directives from Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama and Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, following their meetings in early 2025.
The negotiations reactivated the Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation (PJCC), which had been dormant for six years.
