African leaders meeting in Accra, Ghana, have agreed to tighten regional cooperation against a worsening wave of terrorism and violent extremism that is spreading across West Africa and neighbouring areas.
The commitment was set out in a joint communiqué issued at the close of a two-day High-Level Consultative Conference on Regional Cooperation and Security, held on Thursday, 29 January 2026 and Friday, 30 January 2026 in Accra. The document was made available to the media on Sunday, 1 February 2026. Okay News reports that the leaders described the situation as urgent and warned that delays in collective action would cost more lives.
In the communiqué, the leaders said the region has become the “global epicentre” of terrorism and violent extremism, and argued that the security crisis has grown beyond what any single country can manage on its own. They also cited alarming figures, stating that at least eight terror attacks are recorded daily in West Africa, leading to an average of 44 deaths, with more than half of global terrorism-related deaths said to be occurring in the region.
The conference was chaired by John Mahama, while Julius Maada Bio led a delegation from Sierra Leone and Joseph Boakai led a delegation from Liberia. Delegations and representatives from Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo also took part.
They stressed that the countries of West Africa are closely linked by geography, trade routes, shared ecosystems, and communities whose livelihoods depend heavily on cross-border movement, meaning insecurity in one state can quickly spill into others.
Warning that division weakens collective response, the leaders said fragmentation brings heavy economic, social and security costs that reduce the region’s capacity to solve shared problems. They said the region must shift from occasional diplomacy to a structured and permanent framework for cooperation.
On counterterrorism measures, the communiqué said participating states would work to deepen intelligence and information sharing, align legal frameworks where possible, and strengthen programmes aimed at preventing radicalisation and supporting deradicalisation. The leaders also agreed to hold regular meetings to review peace and security responsibilities, and to improve cross-border prosecution of terrorism-related offences, while protecting human rights.
On border management, the summit endorsed “hot pursuit” arrangements through bilateral, minilateral or multilateral agreements to address the fluid movement of criminal and extremist elements. The leaders said they would consider “hot-pursuit” mechanisms and develop a foundational Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), along with protocols on cooperation and security.
The communiqué added that a draft MoU is expected to be prepared within three months and finalised within six months, under the leadership of Ghana’s foreign minister, to provide a legal basis for deeper security coordination.
Beyond military action, the leaders said lasting peace requires stronger focus on human security, including food security, healthcare, job creation and education. They said military responses alone cannot guarantee durable stability and called for improved local governance so citizens feel the presence of the state through service delivery, not only through security enforcement.
The summit also identified climate change as a “threat multiplier” and said countries should incorporate climate and food security into regional peace planning, alongside a collective disaster preparedness and humanitarian response framework.
Looking ahead, the leaders agreed to make the consultative conference a biannual platform and to establish a mechanism to track implementation of decisions. They concluded by saying they were determined to move from talk to measurable outcomes that protect lives and livelihoods across the region.
