President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has charged national and regional actors in charge of boundary commissions in West Africa to do everything within their mandates to ensure peaceful boundaries and borders amongst all states within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The Ghana Boundary Commission (GhBC), under the leadership of Major General Emmanuel Kotia, is spearheading a meeting of the heads of boundary commissions in West Africa in Accra from Tuesday, 9 July to Thursday, 11 July 2024, aimed at drawing up mechanisms between national and regional actors for a better articulation of the implementation of border governance strategies in the West African region.
Addressing a delegation led by the National Coordinator of the Ghana Boundary Commission, Major General Emmanuel Kotia and comprising heads of boundary commissions in several other ECOWAS states at the Jubilee House when they paid a courtesy call on him, President Akufo-Addo said the initiative taken by ECOWAS to bring the boundary heads together is a welcome development.
Referring to Ghana’s recent maritime boundary dispute with Côte d’Ivoire which was settled at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)., the ongoing dispute over the river Nile between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan, among others, President Akufo-Addo said there is the need for an institutionalised mechanism that will help prevent boundary disputes at the regional and continental levels.
“I want to encourage you to give this effort, which is being done to establish a coordinated mechanism and find a way of working together to concretise decisions about our boundaries, I want to encourage you to give it your greatest attention, energies, and support, President Akufo-Addo remarked.
