Like other major communist powers, East Germany sought to exploit Kwame Nkrumah's radicalism to erode Western influence in Ghana and to use Ghana as a base for spreading communism throughout West Africa. The relationship between the two countries began in 1964, when the Bureau of African Affairs approached the East German Trade Mission in Accra and requested intelligence training for its staff. Subsequently, two East German officers who worked for the Ministry of State Security traveled to Ghana to assess the bureau's training requirements. One of these officers remained in Ghana and inaugurated a "Secret Service and Intelligence Work" course for seven members of the Bureau of African Affairs. This officer later offered an "Intelligence Work Under Diplomatic Cover" course for six other people who worked in the Bureau of African Affairs and who eventually were assigned to posts in Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Burundi. East Germany also helped the Ghanaian government to create an intelligence section in the Bureau of African Affairs. These activities ended after Nkrumah's downfall.
Data as of November 1994