Mahama Proposes a New Security Accord for West Africa at the Tana Forum

President John Dramani Mahama used the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa in Ethiopia to call for a new regional security arrangement for West Africa and for the African Union to hold governments to their peace commitments.

What he proposed
On Saturday, 24 October 2026, Mahama presented the 2026 State of Peace and Security in Africa report at the 12th Tana Forum in Bahir Dar. The report covers January 2025 to June 2026 and examines the political and economic conditions behind conflicts across the continent.

He identified the proposed Sahel-Gulf of Guinea Accord as a coalition of willing countries to promote peace and security. Ghana is working with neighbours to build bilateral, minilateral and multilateral security cooperation.

Why a new accord
The proposal rests on his view that existing arrangements have failed. He said the Accra Initiative, set up to strengthen regional cooperation against terrorism and violent extremism, seems to have run aground.

He also said political divisions between ECOWAS and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) have weakened collective efforts against insecurity. Ghana, he said, has kept engaging with the AES countries despite their differences with ECOWAS.

The mention of the AES matters because the terrorist threat now crosses the Sahel into the coastal states, and no regional response works well without the Sahelian governments.

Accountability and implementation
The second part of his message was about enforcement. He urged the AU and the regional economic communities to assess whether governments comply with peace and security agreements and to openly name those that fail their obligations.

He observed that Africa has produced many policies and agreements but has struggled to implement them.

Analysis
A "coalition of the willing" has strengths and risks. It can move faster than a large bloc and avoid the veto of the least willing member. The risk is another framework that overlaps with the AU, ECOWAS and the stalled Accra Initiative. Whether this one works will depend on several things:

Membership: whether any AES states take part, and on what terms.

Resources: who pays for joint intelligence, border operations and troops.

Mandate: how it relates to existing ECOWAS and AU mechanisms, so it adds capacity instead of confusion.

Public trust: whether it addresses the grievances of border communities that extremist groups exploit, not only military action.

The accountability call may matter more than the accord itself. Naming governments that ignore their commitments is politically hard, but without it any new accord risks the same fate as the old one.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/Science communicator, Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,United States Institute of Peace (USIP), [email protected] +233555275880

Sources and References
Graphic Online, Mohammed Ali (25 Oct 2026). "President Mahama proposes new security accord for West Africa." https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/president-mahama-proposes-new-security-accord-for-west-africa.html

Adom Online / GNA. "Mahama attends Tana Forum board meeting in Addis Ababa" (background on the Tana Forum). https://www.adomonline.com/?p=2112238

MyJoyOnline / GNA (Feb 2026). "AU Summit: Mahama, UN chief discuss African security" (background on his Sahel concerns). https://www.myjoyonline.com/au-summit-mahama-un-chief-discuss-african-security/