{"id":31648,"date":"2024-12-16T20:48:30","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T20:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=31648"},"modified":"2024-12-16T20:48:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T20:48:30","slug":"i-thought-i-would-die-freed-ghanaian-captive-tells-bbc-of-life-in-west-african-jihadist-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=31648","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I thought I would die\u2019 \u2013 freed Ghanaian captive tells BBC of life in West African jihadist base"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>13 Minute, 20 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

A man from Ghana has told the BBC<\/a> how he was seized at gunpoint by jihadists in neighbouring Burkina Faso, before being taken to their vast desert camp where he gained a rare insight into their lives \u2013 from the children he believed were trained as suicide bombers, to the tunnels they had dug to shield themselves and their armoured tanks from air strikes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his first media interview since his 2019 ordeal, the man \u2013 whom we are calling James to protect his identity \u2013 said his first day at the camp was terrifying as a huge number of Islamist fighters returned from an operation, firing shots in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was the end. I was just sweating,\u201d James said, adding that he also ended up wetting his pants when some fighters hit him with their guns \u2013 and laughed.<\/p>\n

James, who is in his 30s and follows a traditional African religion, said the insurgents later attempted to recruit him, enticing him with the allure of power by saying he could one day become the commander of a battalion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commander brought out a sack. It contained different weapons, AK-47, M16, and G3 [rifles]. So he asked me which of them I could operate, and I said I had never operated one before. He said: \u2018We have bigger weapons, so if I give you a battalion to handle, no-one can harm you\u2019,\u201d James added.<\/p>\n

He said he was lucky to be released about two weeks later after he begged for his freedom, claiming that he had a sick child at home and promising the camp commander that he would become his recruiting-sergeant in Ghana \u2013 a promise he says he never kept.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s National Commission on Civic Education, a government body which is spearheading a public campaign to prevent young people from joining the jihadists, told the BBC that it was aware of James\u2019 experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met him in an attempt to sensitise tertiary-level students,\u201d said Mawuli Agbenu, the commission\u2019s regional director in the capital, Accra.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will definitely have a way of engaging with him so that he will be an ambassador or an influencer within his community,\u201d Mr Agbenu added.<\/p>\n

Long a stable democracy, Ghana has so far been spared the violence that has seen the insurgency spread, causing havoc in Burkina Faso and its West African neighbours.<\/p>\n

The insurgents who kidnapped James belonged to Jama\u2019at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), or The Support Group for Islam and Muslims. An affiliate of al-Qaeda, it was officially launched in 2017 as an umbrella body for various jihadist groups in the region.<\/p>\n

In Burkina Faso, they are strongest in the north, where they control large areas, but they have also expanded to the south, along the porous 550km-long (340 mile) border with Ghana.<\/p>\n

More than 15,000 people from Burkina Faso have fled into northern Ghana to escape the conflict, aid agencies say.<\/p>\n

Apart from Burkina Faso, the jihadists have also gained territory in Niger and Mali, and have carried out attacks in Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo \u2013 all former French colonies \u2013 raising fears that the insurgency was spreading south towards the coast.<\/p>\n

In April, a senior UN official said that \u201cthe epicentre of terrorism has shifted from the Middle East and North Africa into sub-Saharan Africa, concentrated largely in the Sahel region [which includes Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger]\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jihadists linked to both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group operate in the region.<\/p>\n

A Ghanaian security officer stationed along the border with Burkina Faso told the BBC that the jihadists often crossed over to regroup when under pressure from Burkina Faso\u2019s military \u2013 and they also used the country to smuggle weapons, food and fuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not safe for Ghana. They hide in towns like Pusiga. Residents of border communities are worried because there\u2019s no tight security,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In a report released in July, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations think-tank said the \u201cabsence of real attacks on Ghanaian soil seems to result from JNIM\u2019s calculus of not disturbing supply lines and places of rest as well as not provoking a relatively strong army\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cExamples of people who are spared by JNIM by showing their Ghanaian identity cards fits this reading,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Most Ghanaians are Christians, but the population near the border with Burkina Faso is mainly Muslim \u2013 and parts of the region have also been riven with ethnic tensions, raising fears that the jihadists could exploit them to their advantage.<\/p>\n

The think-tank said that JNIM had attempted in a \u201cvery small number\u201d of instances to recruit or incite Ghana\u2019s small, largely Muslim Fulani community to carry out attacks.<\/p>\n

JNIM claimed that they were marginalised, but its recruitment efforts had \u201cminimal success\u201d as the Fulani were \u201caware of the chaos that has enveloped the Sahel due to familial networks\u201d and did not want it to occur in Ghana, the think-tank added.<\/p>\n

A Fulani Muslim preacher in Burkina Faso, Amadou Koufa, is the co-founder of JNIM and is its second-in-command. He recruits most of his fighters from the Fulani community in Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n

The military has been accused by rights groups of retaliating by stigmatising Fulanis, and carrying out indiscriminate attacks on their villages in Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n

\n

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In 2022, a France-based NGO, Promediation, said its research showed that the jihadists had recruited between 200 and 300 young Ghanaians.<\/p>\n

Although some were operating in insurgency-hit countries like Burkina Faso, others had been sent back to their villages in northern Ghana to preach their \u201cradical faith\u201d, it added.<\/p>\n

This could eventually lead to the jihadists gaining \u201ca sustainable foothold in remote and peripheral areas in the north\u201d, the NGO said.<\/p>\n

Since 2022, Ghana has been at the forefront of efforts to create a new Western-backed, 10,000-strong regional force to combat the Islamist insurgency.<\/p>\n

Tamale \u2013 the biggest city in northern Ghana \u2013 is supposed to be the force\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n

However, the headquarters has not yet opened, and the fate of the initiative is unclear after the region split between pro-Western and pro-Russian states.<\/p>\n

Burkina Faso \u2013 along with Mali and Niger \u2013 have pivoted towards Russia. The three countries have formed their own alliance to fight the insurgents, and have also relied on help from Russian mercenaries.<\/p>\n

Ghana and other regional states have remained allied with the West.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s military has established bases in the north, but newly installed border surveillance equipment was not yet working, the security officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.<\/p>\n

However, more troops have been sent since JNIM carried out two attacks, late last month and earlier this month, on the Burkina Faso side of the border, the officer added.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s government did not respond to a BBC request for comment.<\/p>\n

However, its ambassador to Burkina Faso, Boniface Gambila Adagbila, told the BBC the two countries were helping each other to fight the insurgents, warning that if Burkina Faso fails \u201cGhana may likely to be the next place\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party \u2013 which will form the next government after winning elections on 7 December \u2013 promised in its campaign manifesto to \u201cenhance\u201d border security with \u201cinternational partners\u201d, as well as improve the country\u2019s intelligence capabilities.<\/p>\n

In August 2023, the European Union announced that as part of a 20m euro ($21.6m; \u00a316.6m) aid package it would supply Ghana with about 100 armoured vehicles, as well as surveillance equipment such as drones.<\/p>\n

Many civilians and refugees cross the Ghana-Burkina Faso border through footpaths and back roads to work, trade or visit relatives despite the security risk \u2013 and James said he was one of them. He was travelling all the way to Senegal on his motorbike when he was taken captive.<\/p>\n

After riding for nearly a day, he said he encountered the insurgents in north-western Burkina Faso, as he was nearing the border with Mali.<\/p>\n

A handful of jihadists, also on motorbikes, stopped him and took him to their camp where he was interrogated until their commander was convinced that he was not a spy, James said.<\/p>\n

He added that his blindfold \u2013 the trademark black jihadist flag \u2013 was then removed.<\/p>\n

\n

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James said he found about 500 insurgents \u2013 mostly young men, including one who identified himself as a doctor \u2013 living in the camp.<\/p>\n

Located in desert-like terrain, it was made up of thatch-roofed huts, with small electricity-generating solar panels, he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the camp was divided into three sections \u2013 for commanders and their families, lower-ranking jihadists and captured villagers and soldiers.<\/p>\n

James said he was detained in the latter section, but got \u201ccloser\u201d to the jihadists in the second week as he increasingly acted as though he had become a sympathiser of their cause.<\/p>\n

They sat around in groups of five or 10, and listened to the songs of Salif Ke\u00efta, the Malian musician known as the Golden Voice of Africa, James said.<\/p>\n

Other jihadist groups have banned music, saying it is un-Islamic.<\/p>\n

James said that while the atmosphere at the camp was generally relaxed, groups of jihadists regularly went to fight, firing celebratory shots when they returned, claiming to have achieved battlefield success.<\/p>\n

James said he realised that this was the gunfire he had heard on the first day, and got used to it.<\/p>\n

He added that the insurgents parked their tanks and pick-up trucks in two inter-connected tunnels to ensure they were not destroyed if there was an air strike, while only a few vehicles remained outside \u201con stand-by, for an emergency\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the jihadists also revealed their darkest sides \u2013 telling him they captured women during raids on villages and sold them to each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey trade the women they\u2019ve captured. Others sell wives that they are fed up with. Those who resist are gang-raped into submission by two or three fighters,\u201d James added, though he did not see them do this.<\/p>\n

James said the women at the camp included the wives of jihadists who performed domestic chores like cooking and cleaning, while those who were captured were either sex-slaves or were forced to become fighters.<\/p>\n

He explained that he saw fully veiled women, with AK-47 rifles hidden under their clothes, leave the camp to raid villages for livestock to feed people at the camp \u2013 or to sell at markets in nearby towns.<\/p>\n

James said he also saw dozens of children, including those of jihadists, being trained in the use of weapons and explosives.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll see a small kid holding a gun and telling you that if he goes to meet some people, this is how he is going to kill them,\u201d James added.<\/p>\n

He said he twice saw four children being taken to another location, before returning to the camp with suicide vests.<\/p>\n

They wore long, loose outfits over them, and left the camp with begging bowls, James said.<\/p>\n

Jihadists told him that when they anticipate a tough battle in a town or military camp, they send children disguised as beggars who then blow themselves up, so the fighters can enter amid the chaos, James said.<\/p>\n

He added that three jihadists had told him that they \u201csacrifice their children as suicide bombers and they get paid after every mission\u201d, though they did not disclose the amount.<\/p>\n

He said the jihadists tried to indoctrinate him, preaching that \u201canything Western is evil\u201d and showing him propaganda videos every night, including one of the US invasion of Iraq and the killing of Palestinians in the current conflict with Israel.<\/p>\n

According to James, as the insurgency was being waged in French-speaking countries, all the jihadists were Francophone, but one spoke English with a Ghanaian accent, and always kept his face covered so that he could not see him.<\/p>\n

In a sign that the jihadists were also influenced by pan-Africanism, James said some of them invoked the names of revolutionaries like Burkina Faso\u2019s Thomas Sankara and Ghana\u2019s Kwame Nkrumah and told him that people should \u201crise up\u201d against \u201cbad leaders\u201d and free themselves from \u201cbondage\u201d.<\/p>\n

James said the jihadists also expressed the view that if Sankara and Nkrumah had \u201clived long\u201d, then \u201cthe whole of Africa would have been a better place \u2013 nobody would have travelled from Africa to the West. People would have been travelling from the West to Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n

James, unemployed at the time, said their rhetoric was powerful, and only \u201cstrength of heart\u201d prevented him from joining their ranks.<\/p>\n

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On how exactly he was captured, James said that two Muslim friends were travelling with him at the time, promising to introduce him to a Muslim spiritual leader in Senegal who could pray for him and improve his fortunes.<\/p>\n

All three of them were intercepted by the jihadists as they were coming to the end of the first leg of their trip, he said.<\/p>\n

James added one of his friends was shot dead as he attempted to flee, while his other friend was taken with him to the camp.<\/p>\n

James said the commander did not release his friend, making him fear that he had been forced to join the jihadists \u2013 or was dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commander told me that: \u2018I will let you go if you assure me you will get me more fighters\u2019,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

He added that before driving him to a bus rank and giving him the fare for the trip back home, the insurgents gave him a contact number to keep in touch, but, James said, he never did and changed his number.<\/p>\n

According to James, the jihadists also gave him charms, which supposedly had supernatural powers.<\/p>\n

Again, many other jihadists reject the use of amulets, believing them to be contrary to the teachings of Islam.<\/p>\n

James showed the BBC the amulets, which were made of fowl feathers, animal skins and herbs, covered in leather and cloth.<\/p>\n

They included one which the jihadists falsely told him offered protection from bullets.<\/p>\n

James said he never got the impression that the insurgents wanted to destabilise Ghana, seeing it as the \u201csafest place\u201d to hide when under pressure from Burkina Faso\u2019s military.<\/p>\n

Their focus was on waging an insurgency in countries where France and the US \u201cexists\u201d, believing that these two countries exploit Africa\u2019s resources, to the detriment of its people, James said. This is denied by both countries.<\/p>\n

Ghana-based security analyst Adib Saani expressed concern about the growing insurgency in West Africa, and said he did not see a military solution to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to go beyond the militarised posture. We must address the socio-economic and geopolitical deficits that are creating the environment for terrorism to strive,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s National Commission for Civic Education has been carrying out a public awareness campaign dubbed \u201csee something, say something\u201d to encourage residents in the north to report suspicious activity.<\/p>\n

The campaign has also been extended to Accra, to educate young people about the dangers of jihadism.<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s Mr Agbanu told the BBC that the campaign was vital as Ghanaians were vulnerable to recruitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a high rate of corruption, unequal development across the country, and huge youth unemployment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

James, who is now a subsistence farmer, said that he was just relieved to be alive as the jihadist commander had told him that he was making an exception by releasing him because normally it was \u201ceither your dead body that will go home or nobody will ever hear of you again\u201d.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> BBC<\/p>\n

The post \u2018I thought I would die\u2019 \u2013 freed Ghanaian captive tells BBC of life in West African jihadist base<\/a> first appeared on 3News<\/a>.<\/p>

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