Ghana Peace
Burkina Faso and Ghana held a three-day meeting to review and finalize key legal instruments necessary for the joint management of their common international land boundary, after four years of work in developing the instruments.
The opening ceremony of the conference took place at the Marriott Hotel in Accra, Ghana, on 17 September 2025, with Ghana’s Deputy Minister, Lands and Natural Resources – Alhaji Yusif Sulimana, with funding support from Germany’s Gesellschaft fúr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the African Union Border Programme (AUBP).
The meeting will also work on the Framework Agreement on Cross-Border Cooperation, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Establishing Periodic Consultation Frameworks between Border Administrative Authorities, and the Protocol on the Establishment of a Joint Commission for the Reaffirmation of their Common Land Boundary.
The Framework Agreement, MOU, and Protocol, will serve as the legal basis under which the Boundary Commission of Ghana (GhBC), and its Burkina Faso counterpart, will conduct reaffirmation and undertake cross-border initiatives.
Delivering the keynote address, the Deputy Minister communicated the Ghanaian government’s will to be steadfast in ensuring that its international land boundary with Burkina Faso is jointly managed, in strict accordance with international law, anchored in the enduring spirit of peace, security, and mutual respect.
He added that primarily, the instruments have implications extending far beyond technicalities, with their overall impacts borne by the lives of those who call the border areas home, and thus urged that the boundaries be not deemed a line of separation, but spaces of interaction, trade, and cooperation for peace.
He concluded that well-defined and well-managed borders are vital to peace and security, and essential for fostering trade, facilitating movement, and enabling socio-economic development in the two nations’ common underdeveloped border areas.
The Commissioner General, GhBC – Brigadier General (Brig Gen) Anthony Ntem, in his welcome speech said, in establishing an African International Law that would be the cornerstone for minimising boundary-related disputes across African States, countries under the African Union agreed to maintain their colonial boundaries.
He added however, that years of boundary neglect nearly rendered that pragmatic stance obsolete and ineffective, as this is evidenced by the countless tensions and disputes between many neighbouring African States, causing the establishment of the AUBP in 2007.
General Ntem described the 583 kilometre-land border between Ghana and Burkina Faso as bridges connecting communities, stimulating trade, promoting security, and creating pathways for socio-economic growth, and that the validation of the legal texts, would further strengthen the pillars of the bridges.
Mr Mamoudou Tapily – GIZ-AUBP Regional Coordinator for West Africa, said the meet is part of the implementation of the AUBP Support Project funded by the German Federal Government, and implemented by GIZ with the support of Union Economique et Monetaire Quest Africaine (UEMOA) – West African Economic and Monetary Union.
He said the projects aim to contribute to the structural prevention of conflicts, and to improve human security conditions in terms of governance, social cohesion, and economic development in border areas.
He added that the meet had two major objectives: finalization of legal texts for the governance of the border between the two countries; and development of a roadmap for reaffirmation of their common border – moving from discussion to action, and working together with local, regional and national actors in Burkina Faso, la Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana.
Mrs. NACOULMA/SANOU Massadalo Yvette – Governor of the Nazinon Region, Burkina Faso, led the Burkinabe delegation, whiles the GhBC team were joined by Ghana’s Upper Eastern and Upper Western Regional Ministers – Mr Donatus Akamugri Atanga and Mr Charles Lwanga Puozuing, Esq., respectively.
Below are excerpts of the Communique released after the conference in Accra, on 19 September 2025:
“From September 18 to 19, 2025, a capacity building workshop for local, regional and national stakeholders in cross-border cooperation and the finalization of draft legal texts on cross-border cooperation between Burkina Faso and the Republic of Ghana was held in Accra, Ghana, under the joint chairmanship of Brigadier General Anthony NTEM – Commissioner General of the Ghana Boundary Commission, and Mrs. NACOULMA/SANOU Massadalo Yvette – Governor of the Nazinon Region, Burkina Faso.”
“The meeting helped strengthen cross-border cooperation between Burkina Faso and the Republic of Ghana. Specifically, this involved:
Strengthening participants’ knowledge of the concept of cross-border cooperation and its principles;
Exchanging on the political, legal and institutional frameworks of cross-border cooperation in Africa;
Exchanging on the roles of administrative authorities in cross-border cooperation;
Discussing the roles of customary and religious authorities in cross-border cooperation discussing the issues and the process of setting up Local Cross-Border Cooperation Groups (GLCT);
Discussing the issues and the process of developing Cross-Border Local Development Plans (PTDL);
Presenting and discuss Burkina Faso’s experience in cross-border cooperation;
Examining and validating the draft memorandum of understanding relating to the establishment of frameworks for periodic consultation between border administrative authorities of Burkina Faso and the Republic of Ghana with a view to its finalization and signature by the Ministers responsible for Foreign Affairs of the two countries;
Establishing a roadmap for the continuation of the process of concerted management of the border between the two countries, attached to this document.”
“The joint workshop was organized in two stages as follows:
- First stage: workshop to strengthen the capacities of local, regional and national actors in cross-border cooperation – held on September 15 and 16, 2025;
- Second stage: workshop to finalize draft legal texts on cross-border cooperation between Burkina Faso and the Republic of Ghana – held from September 17 to 19, 2025.
At the end of the two meetings, the following recommendations were made: - Promote cross-border cooperation through the development of the cross-border road network
- Develop a dynamic of communication between border actors within the framework of border management;
- Continue to strengthen the capacities of border actors at local and regional level on cross-border cooperation;
- Carry out advocacy actions for financial support from States for cross-border cooperation organizations;
- Strengthen the capacities of future GLCT members;
- Construct crossing structures (bridge) over the Black Volta River to facilitate the free movement of people and goods;
- Harmonize and finalize the English and French versions of the draft Framework Agreement on Cross-Border Cooperation by the Ministries responsible for Foreign Affairs of the two countries;
- Strengthen security cooperation along the common border and border areas;
- Strengthen cross-border cooperation between the border administrative authorities of the two countries;
- Facilitate the free movement of people and goods in cross-border areas.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
