The National Border Commission of Côte-d’Ivoire and that of Burkina Faso, jointly organized on June 8 and 9, 2023 in Laléraba, on Ivorian soil, the 13th African Border Day, which aims to make border areas areas of peace, security and integration.

It is under the theme “borders faced with the challenges of cross-border cooperation, social cohesion and peaceful cohabitation”, that the African Borders Day was organized in the locality of Laléraba, in Côte d’Ivoire.

The village of Laléraba is located on either side of the eponymous river, which constitutes the natural border between Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast.

There is thus Laleraba Burkina Faso belonging to the Cascades region and Laleraba Côte d’Ivoire which depends on the Tchologo region.

It is this village (Ivorian part), a symbol of the strong link between the people of Burkina Faso and the Ivorian, that the National Border Commission of Côte-d’Ivoire (CNF-CI) and the Permanent Secretariat of the National Border Commission of Burkina Faso (SP/CNF) have chosen, to commemorate June 8 and 9, 2023, the 13th edition of African Borders Day.

The village chief of Laleraba Ivory Coast, Oumar Koné, thanked the donors for these social infrastructures which benefit the entire population of Laleraba without distinction of nationality.

He wished for other achievements for the benefit of the village whose number of inhabitants has increased because of the terrorism that Burkina Faso is experiencing.

For the executive secretary of the CNF-CI, Djakalia Konaté, the choice of Laleraba is not fortuitous.

“For him, it is a question of showing the solidarity of the Ivorian people to Burkinabè and encouraging the population to work more in the direction of fraternity, cohesion and solidarity towards the neighbor shaken by a terrorist wave”, a- he indicated.

According to Mr. Konaté, the celebration of the border day aims to strengthen the brotherhood between the two peoples, to eliminate areas of tension, to mark the presence of the State and to strengthen the resilience of the populations.

“The two commissions are working to achieve these goals. This is why they have endowed with the help of partners, the locality of social infrastructure, “said the executive secretary of the CNF-CI.

The CNF-CI provided Laléraba Côte d’Ivoire with socio-economic infrastructure and organized free consultation sessions and voluntary screening for chronic cardiovascular diseases.

As for the Permanent Secretariat of the National Border Commission of Burkina Faso, in turn, also donated social achievement to Laleraba Burkina.

Diakalia Konaté remains optimistic about a normalization of life around the river.

“We tell all entrepreneurs of violence that all states are there to fight against fragility, violence, vulnerability. We are convinced that together Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire will overcome the violence, not necessarily militarily, but from a social and civil point of view through our cross-border cooperation actions”, convinced the executive secretary of the CNF-CI.

The SP/CNF, Salimata Dabal, shares the same vision, explained that cross-border cooperation remains an essential link in border management.

“Today we must emphasize cross-border cooperation which can enable us to resolve many tensions at our borders. Our support is to enable people to live in cohesion, tranquility in order to be able to move together towards harmonious development,” she said.

The first officials of the Cascades regions, in Burkina Faso, and Tchologo, in Côte d’Ivoire, thanked the border actors of the two countries for their efforts to strengthen this cross-border cooperation, social cohesion and peaceful cohabitation. .

The Governor of the Cascades, Jean Charles Somé, remains convinced that the African Border Day will further strengthen relations between these brotherly countries.

The prefect of the Tchologo region, Jean Pierre Sori, invited the populations of Laléraba to be ambassadors of solidarity between the two peoples.

The same message was launched by the first vice-president of the Tchologo regional council, Moussa Koné, representing the sponsor of the 13th African Border Day, the Ivorian Minister of Defense, Téné Birahima Ouattara.

Mr. Koné called on people who share the same borders to promote dialogue in order to make these community spaces not obstacles, but opportunities.

A parade of different social strata, football matches between inhabitants of the village, came to testify to the excellence of the relations between Laléraba Cote d’Ivoire and Laléraba Burkina Faso.

Source: Burkina Information Agency