The internal indicators, he said, included the simmering communal conflicts related to access to land and natural resources, and succession disputes among chiefs, particularly in the northern part of the country.

He mentioned graduate and youth unemployment, the sporadic electoral violence and growing pervasive political vigilantism and herder-farmer conflicts due climate change, as some other internal factors contributing to the relatively unpeaceful nature of the county.

The Minister said the existence of pervasive ethnic and chieftaincy conflicts in Northern Ghana, and intra-religious clashes made the teaming unemployed youth vulnerable to radicalism and violent extremism.

Mr Dery made the remarks in a speech read on his behalf by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Interior, Mrs Adelaide Anno-Kumi, at a management and staff retreat of the National Peace Council.

He said external threats to the country’s peace and security largely emanated from West Africa and the Sahel, including the spillovers from violent extremism, terrorism, acquisition and transborder smuggling of illegal and light weapons, drug trafficking and crimes relating to trafficking.

Ghana, he noted, faced potential threat of recruitment and radicalisation, particularly of the youth, as the threat of violent extremism descended towards the coastal states from the Sahel, with an increase in attacks in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

The Interior Minister said the country’s strong interaction with and proximity to Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mali and Niger – all theatres for terrorist violence – had in the last four years provoked predictions and fears that the country could be the next frontier targeted for such radicalisation and attacks in the West Africa Sub-Region.

He said, “these threats may become a reality unless swift and adequate measures are put in place.”

Mr Dery said the response of the Government of Ghana to preventing those imminent threats included the signing of the “Accra Initiative” with Burkina Faso in 2017, “Operation Conquered Fist” and the development of a National Framework in 2019 for preventing and countering violent extremism and terrorism.

Those approaches, he explained, had been complemented by soft governance and security mechanisms such as the preventive actions by the National Peace Council, and said the benefits of preventing the sources of threats before they occurred could not be overstated.

“This re-echoes the recognition of the role of the National Peace Council to continually integrate peacebuilding and conflict prevention in national security governance,” he said.

He stressed that the need for early warning and early response mechanisms in communities to integrate local solutions through monitoring, mitigation, resolution and management were imperative.

“These should include tapping into the knowledge of religious and traditional leaders, women’s groups, youth, local government officials and security agencies at the district and community levels,” he added.

The Minister reiterated that the role of the National Peace Council had become increasingly compelling within the context of imminent threats to peace, particularly the ongoing tension and violence in Bawku in the Upper East Region.

The Reverend Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, Chairman, National Peace Council, said the Peace Council continued to play its constitutionally mandated role to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts and build sustainable peace.

He said, as mandated by law, the Council played its role in the prevention of the reccurrence of some conflicts particularly, the Doba Kadinga and the Bawku conflicts in the Upper East Region.

He said the Council continued to build its capacity in relevant areas relating to its work, including preventing and countering violence extremism, training on peace infrastructure and resilience, responsibility to protect, conflict management and early warning systems and reporting.

GNA