Senegal, Guinea Bissau set up joint committee to sort out border issues

Senegal and Guinea Bissau set up a 26-member joint committee to iron out by 2025 the lingering border issues between the two countries.

“It is a joint committee of twenty-six members that must carry out what is called reaffirmation of our borders,” said Vice-Admiral Ibrahima Wade, Chairman of Senegal’s National Border Management Commission.

“This commission will be able to initiate and implement joint actions for the peaceful settlement of disputes, the strengthening of peace, security, (…) of our border areas for a successful integration and cohabitation of our peoples,” he added.

Both countries have been tangled in a border dispute created by former colonial powers namely France for Senegal and Portugal for Guinea Bissau.

The two former colonial powers reportedly set up, 120 years ago, a joint committee that reached an agreement on the lay of the borders.

For Ibrahima Wade, documentary research has enabled the establishment of border areas.

“This will make the border a controlled area, managed by the authorities of both states for the benefit of the local populations involved in fishing, agriculture and trade,” he stressed.

Jorge Antonio Dacruz Almeida, Guinea-Bissau Minister for Territorial Administration and Local Development welcomed the creation of the committee to settle border issue between the two countries in line with the African Union orientations.