ACCRA – Saturday, 26 August 2023 (APS) – The Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Ahmed Attaf, described the talks he held with Ghana’s President in Accra on Saturday as “very fruitful”, saying they brought out “a total convergence” of views between Algeria and Ghana and between the presidents of the two countries, Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his counterpart Nana Akufo-Addo.
“The talks with President Nana Akufo-Addo were very fruitful and highlighted the total convergence of views between our two countries and our two Presidents. They underlined the permanent and common attachment of both parties to strengthening security and stability in the best interest of the aspirations of our peoples in the region,” Attaf told the press at the end of the audience granted to him by the Ghanaian President, at the end of the tour entrusted to him by President Tebboune.
The Minister said that President Nana Akufo-Addo had asked him to convey “his greetings and encouragement to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune,” and praised “his important role and commendable efforts to contribute effectively to ending the crisis in Niger.”
The Ghanaian president also hailed “President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s constant and committed role in the service of noble causes, namely development and security in Africa”, saying he looked forward to meeting him “in the near future” on the occasion of the state visit he will be making to Algeria at the invitation of the President of the Republic.
Turning to the situation in Niger, Attaf said he had informed the Ghanaian President “of the initiatives taken by his brother, Abdelmadjid Tebboune to strengthen the position and role of the political path in resolving this crisis”, as this path “remains the only one that will enable us to achieve the goals around which all the peoples and states of the African Union are united, and which are supported by the Economic Community of West African States.”
These goals, “clearly defined by President Tebboune, consist of total and strict respect for the African legal framework relating to unconstitutional changes of government, with emphasis on Algeria’s strong commitment to the principle of prohibiting and rejecting such changes.”
He recalled that “our country played a major role in crystallizing this goal and enshrining it on the continental stage, on the occasion of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Summit held in Algiers in 1999.”
Algeria is naturally “the principal and moral guarantor of this central principle of African relations,” stressed Attaf.
These goals also include “the return to constitutional order in Niger and the full rehabilitation of democratic governance in this sister country,” he said.