Kofi Ampeah Woode
Ghana has submitted its Ratified Instrument of the African Union Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation to the African Union Commission at a ceremony at the African Union Commission Headquarters, in Addis Ababa, thus, becoming the 8th country to ratify the Convention.
The presentation of the Ratified Instrument on Monday 4 September, 2023, follows Ghana’s signing of the agreement to the Convention on 4 July 2017, after which the agreement was further ratified by the Parliament of Ghana on 9 February 2023.
Making the presentation on behalf of Ghana at the African Union Commission, the National Coordinator of Ghana’s Boundary Commission (GhBC) – Major General Emmanuel Wekem Kotia, stated that Ghana has now fulfilled its obligation by depositing the instrument of the ratified Convention, which has been signed by the President of the Republic of Ghana on 25 April 2023.
The instrument was received by the Legal Counsellor of the African Union Commission, in the presence of officials of Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ghana Embassy in Ethiopia.
The African Union Convention on Cross-border Cooperation – also known as the Niamey Convention – was adopted on June 27, 2014, by the 23rd Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government, held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, and has the following objectives:
1) Promote cross-border cooperation, at local, sub-regional and regional levels; 2) Seize the opportunities arising from shared borders and address the related challenges; 3) Facilitate the delimitation, demarcation and reaffirmation of interstate borders, in conformity with mechanisms agreed upon by the parties concerned; 4) Facilitate the peaceful resolution of border disputes.
It also aims to 5) Ensure efficient and effective integrated border management; 6) Transform border areas into catalysts for growth, socioeconomic and political integration of the continent; and 7) Promote peace and stability through the prevention of conflicts, the integration of the continent and the deepening of its unity.
Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Mali, and Kenya, have ratified the Convention.
