French Embassy in Ghana on high terror alert after deadly protest in Niger over New Charlie Hebdo Cartoons

French Embassy in Ghana on High Terror Alert after Deadly Protests in Niger over New Charlie Hebdo Cartoons. An anonymous source from the French Embassy in Ghana has told Cameroon Concord that the embassy is on high alert for a possible terror attack this week. This follows a series of deadly protests across Africa by Muslims against the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Despite the killings that took place in the magazine’s office which sparked an international outrage, the magazine has published a new defiant cartoon of the Muslim prophet.

In Niger over the weekend, four people were killed in violent protest. This happened in the southern town of Zinder, where protesters set fire to a French cultural centre and burnt more than 45 churches.Local radio station in the Ghana’s capital Accra, Starr Fm quoted a source from the embassy saying security has been beefed up at the embassy to avoid any surprise attack. “The number of policemen at the embassy has increased significantly. Other plain-clothed special security personnel have also been stationed, the men are on the ground day and night to avoid any surprise attack’’, the source was quoted as saying.

But security experts in Ghana have downplayed such an attack on the embassy arguing that where the embassy is located is a high security zone in the country. The French embassy in Ghana is located very close to the Flagstaff House which is the seat of the executive arm of Ghana’s government. Cameroon Concord’s Issaka Adams in Accra hinted that the atmosphere among the Muslim community in the country is very calm as they hardly talk about the Charlie Hebdo attack and the new cartoons published by the magazine. Ghana was hailed in the past by the international community as a peaceful country in both political and ethnic-religion issues but emerging threats of insurgencies in West Africa is gradually changing the picture in the eyes of the international community.