Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana launch joint security operation

<p>Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have launched a joint security operation called Koudanlgou II in the southern and western areas of Burkina Faso.</p> <p>The Burkinabe government announced at the end of a Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday, that the joint effort began since November 15.</p> <p>It said more than 850 security elements from the three countries are involved in the joint multinational operation, which is expected to crackdown transnational crimes including terrorism, smuggling, and drug trafficking. </p> <p>Operation Koudanlgou II follows the Accra initiative signed in November 2017 by five countries in the sub-region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo.</p> <p>It comes after Koudanlgou I, which was organized in May 2018 between Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and Ghana.</p>