Ghanaians 2nd highest ISIS recruits – Okudzeto

Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has revealed that information gathered from Libya suggests that Ghana is the second highest country that contributes fighters to ISIS in Libya.

“Rather worrying for Ghana, we are considered to be among the second highest category of 50 – 100. This has been explained by the Attorney-General’s Office in Libya to mean between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants in Libya have been identified as active frontline fighters of ISIS in Libya,” Mr Ablakwa said at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, October 10.

Ghana appears in this category with seven other countries namely Senegal, Gambia, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Mali and Somalia.

Only Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan and Libya were found to have more Islamic State fighters than the category Ghana finds itself.

Mr Okudzeto expressed more worry as he indicated that Ghanaian ISIS fighters were involved in abductions and other grave criminal activities.

“A special enquiry found out that kidnapping was done by Islamic State foreign fighters from Ghana, Turkey and Tunisia,” he said.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu said the information was contained in highlights of a report presented at a press meeting in Tripoli recently, and the MP wants actions to be taken by the government for the collective interest of the nation.

The Minority is therefore calling for a reaction to the information provided by the Libyan Attorney General’s office “due to its grave ramifications to Ghana’s image”.

The Minority wants assurance from Ghana and international security partners that the development is critically being addressed within a Ghana-Libya anti-terrorism framework and global fight against terror.

The Minority also want government to ascertain “to what extent the report is accurate, as it is possible other nationals can hold themselves out as Ghanaians and be using Ghanaian passports to commit crime globally”.