Borders were closed on September 21 after gunmen attacked a checkpoint at Noe in Ivory Coast and fled to Ghana [AFP]
Ivory Coast has announced it will reopen its border
with eastern neighbour Ghana, more than two weeks after it was shut over
a series of deadly attacks Ivorian officials said were launched from
Ghanaian territory.Paul Koffi Koffi, the Ivorian defence minister, announced on RTI public television on Sunday that President Alassane Ouattara had decided the borders would reopen after both countries tightened security with the aim of stopping incursions.
All borders were closed on September 21 after gunmen attacked a border checkpoint at Noe in Ivory Coast and then fled to Ghana, but air links were reopened on September 24.
Five assailants were killed in the shootout, another five were arrested, while the rest fled into Ghana, Ivorian officials said.
Ghanaian police said they had arrested three men in possession of AK-47 rifles on suspicion that they were plotting to overthrow Ouattara's government.
Koffi said that since the closure "the two brotherly countries have strengthened their security along the common border with the aim of preventing any incursion" while Ouattara and his Ghanaian counterpart John Dramani Mahama "have stayed in permanent contact".
"As a result President Alassane Ouattara decided that from Monday October 8, 2012 at seven in the morning the land and sea borders will reopen," Koffi said.
President Mahama said on September 26 that Ghana would not allow its territory to be used as a base to attack neighbouring nations.
He noted "the unfolding tensions in Ivory Coast", and said Ghana "will not harbour any individuals or groups whose intent is to utilise Ghana as a base of operation to undermine the safety and security of another nation", in an address to the United Nations that was distributed in Accra.
The closure of the frontiers caused major difficulties for trade between the neighbours and for residents of the border region.
source: aljazeera
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