Over 16,000 killed in violent extremism in West Africa over three years: Ghanaian minister

STORY: Over 16,000 killed in violent extremism in West Africa over three years: Ghanaian minister DATELINE: May 7, 2022 LENGTH: 00:01:55 LOCATION: Accra CATEGORY: MILITARY SHOTLIST: 1. various of military parade 2. various of participants attending a meeting 3. SOUNDBITE (English): DOMINIC NITIWUL, Ghana's Minister for Defence 4. various of group photo 5. various of participants STORYLINE: At least 16,726 people died in violent extremism in West Africa over the past three years, said a senior Ghanaian official Thursday. Dominic Nitiwul, Ghana's Minister for Defence, said this during the opening of the two-day extraordinary meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff in the Ghanaian capital. Over the past three years, there have been 5,306 terror-related attacks within the subregion, claiming over 16,726 lives, with several thousand injuries and millions displaced, Nitiwul said. He added that more than 840 attacks had taken place in the first thr