A Ghanaian driver was shot by gunmen who are believed to be terrorists while attempting to transport food from Niger despite the security situation in that area of the West African sub-region. The gunmen also set fire to several trucks.
One of a group of divers who decided to travel through Burkina Faso to transport food to Ghana was the injured diver, who is reportedly receiving treatment at a medical facility in Niger.
Due to the military coup that caused the Niger borders to close and its subsequent disagreement with the regional bloc ECOWAS, they had been stuck.
The drivers attempted to cross the Burkina Faso border after unsuccessfully waiting for security escorts, according to Joy News. Before they could succeed, though, a group of terrorists attacked them with weapons.
During the attack, the terrorists reportedly set fire to four trucks.
Owner of the Damabala Enterprise and the driver of one of the 35 trucks used to transport food from Niger to Ghana, Massahoudu Dambala, described what happened to Joynews, claiming that the drivers refused to stop as the terrorists had ordered.
“They were standing there waiting for escorts but they were not coming so one of the cars decided to go ahead and when they succeeded, ours also said let’s try and see. Immediately we started moving, the jihadist people started coming out.
“They tried to stop them but they refused, not knowing that they were many. They started shooting them so some of them returned and some abandoned their trucks.
Our car was in front so when they got there, they burnt the car. The car had about 450 bags of beans so they burnt the car together with about 3 or 4 cars,” he is quoted to have told Accra-based Joy News.
After Mohamed Bazoum and his government were overthrown, Niger has been governed by the military for several weeks. The movement of people and goods into and out of the country has been hampered by the country’s insecurity.
