The Joint Technical Commission for Border Raffirmation met to Discuss Border Issues Between Sierra Leone & Guinea
The Joint Technical Commissions for border reaffirmation from Sierra Leone and Guinea, headed by the Chief of Staff of the Office of National Security (ONS) and the National Director for Public Liberties and Borders, Executive Secretary, Border Commission of Guinea, respectively, met in Kailahun from 23rd to 27th March 2025, to discuss issues aimed at reaching a peaceful resolution to the teething problems of border infractions between the two sister countries.
The high-level meeting ended on a good note as both countries presented their documents relating countries’ border as the general aim to clarify the land and maritime border limits of the two countries. Relevant documents collected internally from the national archives of each country were consolidated, sorted, analyzed, and categorized into legal, administrative, and cartographic.
The 16-man delegation from Sierra Leone included representatives from the ONS, Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, the Sierra Leone Police, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Fourah Bay College-University of Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Information and Civic Education and the National Early Warning Center (NEWRMC), Civil Society and the Judiciary of Sierra Leone.
Organized by the two countries with technical and financial support of the German Cooperation (GIZ), as part of the implementation of the African Union Border Programme (AUBP), the meeting was co-chaired by the Chief of Staff of ONS and the National Director of Public Liberties and Borders, Executive Secretary of the National Border Commission of Guinea.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Keili welcomed the idea of holding the important meeting as part of the dynamics of the recommendations of the joint awareness-raising mission to the Sierra Leone-Guinea border communities held from October 22 to November 11, 2024.
The Chief of Staff, ONS on behalf of the Sierra Leonean authorities, thanked the Guinean delegation for their visit. Mr. Keili emphasized on how the meeting demonstrated the great interest and strong commitment of both governments in strengthening their collaboration, saying he is hopeful that the meeting will maintain the momentum of the process leading to the reaffirmation of the common borders, with a view to ensuring peace and social cohesion in the border areas.
He also thanked GIZ/PFUA for their continued support to the Joint Technical Commissions for the Materialization of African Borders, particularly those of Sierra Leone and Guinea. He concluded by reassuring the representative of GIZ/PFUA on behalf of the Sierra Leonean authorities of the determination of Sierra Leone to facilitate the reaffirmation of the common border. He urged the Joint Technical Commission to do everything possible to ensure that the results of the meeting could contribute significantly to the reaffirmation of the border line, a guarantee for the consolidation of peace in the border areas.
Representing the African Union Border Program (GIZ/PFUA), Saa David Leno who is also an expert on boundary issues for Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Senegal welcomed the holding of the meeting and thanked the two States, particularly the Commissions in charge of the borders for their demonstrated willingness to move the process forward as well as their frank collaboration in addressing the border issues of the two countries.
Mr. Leno described the objectives of the meeting to be perfectly in line with the objective of the African Union Border Programme to achieve the complete materialization/reaffirmation of all African borders. He reassured the two States of the commitment of GIZ/PFUA to support the actions of the Joint Technical Commission for the reaffirmation of the Sierra Leone-Guinea border line He welcomed the technical sub-commission for the results already obtained.
The National Director of Public Liberties and Borders and Executive Secretary of the National Border Commission of Guinea, Moriba Magassouba, who also heads the Guinean delegation, thanked the Sierra Leonean delegation and the Government of Sierra Leone on behalf of the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, for the brotherly and warm welcome, as well as the amenities made available to the Guinean delegation since its arrival in Sierra Leone.
He also conveyed the warm greetings of the Guinean Minister of Territories to his Sierra Leonean counterparts and thanked the African Union expert Abdoulaye Belem for the trip.
He ended by thanking the technical and financial partners for their constant support to the two States in the reaffirmation and materialization of their borders.
After the review of the documents the meeting recommended continued documentary research in the colonial archives of Senegal, France and Great Britain; hold the fourth meeting of the Joint Technical Commission for the Reaffirmation of the Sierra Leone-Guinea border in Guinea, before the end of the first half of 2025; continue the sensitization of the populations along the border; organize a joint reconnaissance mission to the border line between Sierra Leone and Guinea; draft a Border Reaffirmation Treaty between the two countries and organize periodic meetings of the Joint Technical Commission and the local authorities of both countries.
The closing ceremony was co-chaired by the two heads of delegation. Mr. Magassouba expressed his satisfaction with the spirit of brotherhood and open collaboration that prevailed during the 4-day meeting. He congratulated the committee members on the results achieved and encouraged them to continue the positive momentum. He thanked the Sierra Leonean authorities, particularly the Head of Sierra Leone delegation and his entire team, for the hospitality extended to them during their stay in the Republic of Sierra Leone.
On his part, the ONS Chief of Staff expressed his satisfaction with the results obtained in the meeting and congratulated the participants for their full commitment throughout the work. He reassured the Guinean delegation of the Sierra Leonean team’s commitment to do everything possible to facilitate the work of reaffirming the border line to consolidate cohabitation relations, peaceful relations between the populations in the border areas and to strengthen bilateral relations between the Republics of Guinea and Sierra Leone.
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