The Office of National Security (ONS) with it partners has held a national stakeholders retreat to set up the national technical committee (Pre-Border Commission) for the demarcation and delimitation of Sierra Leone land and Maritime boundaries and Cross-Border cooperation with neighbouring Countries.
The engagement is taking place at Dewizzard hotel in Bo city, Southern Sierra Leone.
Deputy National Security Coordinator, ONS Dr. Ahmed A. Sannoh, talked about the experience sharing engagement in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire said the government of Sierra Leone for the past years applied a lot of efforts, through democratic means, in the management of land and maritime border issues with neighbouring countries, especially the Republic of Guinea.
The Government’s strategic objective is to ensure the security, peaceful coexistence and development of Sierra Leone’s border regions through negotiated settlement with neighbouring countries.
To complement the government of Sierra Leone’s effort and determination for addressing border conflicts between states and among local border communities the Africa Union Border Programme (AUBP) with support from GIZ invited both the Republic of Sierra Leone and the Republic of Guinea as observers to witness the first meeting between the National Boundary Commission of Cote d’Ivoire (CNFCI) and the Ghana Boundary Commission (GhBC) in Abidjan, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire between 23 and 24 August 2022.
The main objective of this meeting for both Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana was to set up the joint Technical Commission for the Reaffirmation of the Land Boundary and the joint Technical Commission for the Management of the Maritime Boundary between the two Countries, and to further examine the draft framework agreement on Cross-Border Cooperation.
The delegations from the Republic of Sierra Leone and the Republic of Guinea attended all the sessions in order to gain experience and good practices from both Cote d’Ivoire (CNFCI) and Ghana (GhBC) methodologies on governance (Institutional, legal, financial framework and the operational field actions for the joint border management).
Inspired by the share experiences from the National Boundary Commission of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, the Delegations from Sierra Leone and Guinea were encouraged to work on modalities for the Reaffirmation of their land boundary, undertake Cross Border Cooperation activities on conflict prevention and management of security within the framework of the African Union Border Programme (AUBP).
As a result, a two day bilateral meeting was also facilitated by GIZ-AUBP for both Sierra Leone and Guinea in the office of the National Boundary Commission of Cote d’Ivoire (CNFCI) in Abidjan, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire from 25 to 26 August 2022.
The Aim of the Retreat is to ensure Sierra Leone’s adequate preparation for the installation of members of the Joint Technical Commission for the Reaffirmation of the land borders.
Giving the keynote address, the Residents Minister South Mohammed Alie thanked the organizers of the engagement which he described as a move in the right direction in demarcating the land and maritime boundaries between neighbouring Countries.
He said with the calibral of stakeholders at the session the outcome will be positive for the nation.
