Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama highlighted China's role in helping African countries including Ghana develop infrastructure in an interview with China Media Group which aired on Friday.
Mahama took the interview when he was in Beijing for the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women this October.
"China has been a true friend of Africa and I believe that under the Belt and Road Initiative and under [the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation] FOCAC, major infrastructure projects that are transformative have occurred in many African countries," Mahama said.
The Ghanaian president listed several major projects funded by China in his country as examples, including the Atuabo Gas Plant, the Bui Dam hydroelectric project, and the Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project, which provides 40 million gallons of clean drinking water to the capital city of Accra every day.
"I can speak for Ghana. We discovered huge quantities of gas offshore and we decided that we wanted to use that gas for power, but you need to process that gas before you can generate power in a thermal plant. And so, China invested us almost a billion dollars to set up our first gas processing plant at a place called Atuabo in Ghana. Up to today, it produces the bigger parts of gas to fire our power production in Ghana. And so, that is a symbol of the cooperation between China and Ghana," Mahama said.
"I would say that China has been pivotal in Africa's infrastructural development. In other places, they've built railways that interconnect cities. In Ghana, they've financed our rural electrification projects. And that is why today Ghana can boast of about almost 90 percent of electricity access in our country, one of the highest in Africa," he said.
Ghanaian president underscores China's support for African infrastructure development
Colombia's Transport Minister Maria Fernanda Rojas on Friday said that flights between her country and Venezuela's capital city Caracas are being targeted by cyber attacks, forcing some Colombian carriers to temporarily suspend services to Venezuela.
"Deceptive signals are being emitted, cyber attacks are taking place, signals are being sent that are intended to deceive GPS positioning equipment," Rojas said in a post to social media platform X on the U.S. attempt to close the Venezuelan airspace, warning that "this has crossed all boundaries."
She called for statements from the International Civil Aviation Organization and other international bodies, declaring that technological sabotage of any civil aviation operation anywhere in the world constitutes a crime.
"We cannot allow this [to happen]. The international community cannot allow this today. Today it is Venezuela, tomorrow it could be Colombia or any other country in the world," the minister added.
Rojas said that flight operations between Colombia and Venezuela will continue.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Colombia said it had held meetings with the Colombian foreign ministry and the affected domestic airline companies to solve the issue as soon as possible.
On Wednesday and Thursday, multiple airline companies such as Panama's Copa Airlines, the Bolivian Aviation, and Colombia's low-budget Wingo all announced suspension of Caracas-bounded flights due to pilot reports on GPS signal disruptions.
The flight irregularities followed U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement a week ago, in which he threatened to close the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela "in its entirety," as his administration continued to ramp up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government. Trump's threat has been met with strong condemnation from Venezuela and other countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region.
Colombia says Caracas-bound flights threatened by cyber attacks
