The declaration was signed at the end of a four-day conference in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional capital, attended by representatives of both countries. The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Boundary Commission, Major-General Dr Emmanuel Kotia, signed on behalf of Ghana, while the Permanent Secretary of the Boundary Commission of Burkina Faso, Salimata Dabal, signed on behalf of her country.

As part of the meeting, the teams inspected the international boundaries between both countries in Paga in the Kassena Nankana West District and Sapeliga in the Bawku West District respectively.

The parties agreed and validated the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing the joint commission for the reaffirmation of land boundaries between the two countries.

Under the declaration, both countries accepted the interim report of a joint technical team which is expected to be completed during a 14-day meeting to be held in Burkina Faso.

They also examined and adopted the draft framework agreements on cross-border cooperation and institutionalisation of regular meetings of boundary administration authorities between the two nations, among others.

It was sponsored by the German International Cooperation, GIZ, as part of its African Union border programme.

Significance

Major-General Kotia said the signing of the declaration was to guide the two boundary commissions to be able to carry on a number of responsibilities and activities along the international land boundaries.

He said more of the activities would be undertaken in the communities along the borders, adding “it will be in the form of social interventions such as schools, health facilities and water, among others”.

“Once the needs of the border communities are identified, both boundary communities will solicit support from either their governments or donor partners to execute the projects for the benefit of the people,” the Commissioner-General said.

He said that some border communities did not know the essence of the land boundaries and so there was the need to respect them and  to sensitise the two communities to the relevance and importance of the boundaries towards their preservation.

Satisfaction

For her part, Ms Dabal expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the conference as it would enable both countries to take the needed steps to promote peaceful co-existence along the borders, in spite of reaffirming the distorted land boundaries.

“I wish to commend the participants from both countries for bringing their expertise and competence to bear towards improving the current state of the land boundaries to better bi-lateral relations among them,” she said.

A representative of GIZ, Mamoudou Tapily, said it was necessary to address the border issues between both countries, hence the GIZ’s resolve to provide the needed support towards achieving that objective.

Ghana’s Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Adagbila Boniface Gambila, underscored the need for both commissions to cooperate fully to achieve what had been agreed on in the joint declaration.