By John Ikani
Cote d’Ivoire has officially reopened its land borders to neighbouring countries, after closing them at the beginning of the Covid pandemic in March 2020.
Although the country reopened its sea and air borders within a few months, the land borders with Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Mali remained closed, forcing millions of people living in Cote d’Ivoire to use back roads to get home.
However, after almost three years, the government has lifted its Covid-imposed land border closure, allowing the transport sector to get back to work and rehire drivers and staff.
The reopening of the borders will also help the government to properly identify and process 8,700 refugees, who recently arrived in the country, fleeing violence and insecurity in Burkina Faso.
Government Spokesman, Amadou Coulibaly announced, “Today, we have the clandestine crossing routes under control,” and urged travellers to use official crossing points to enter the country.
The Union of West African drivers’ Secretary General, Daouda Bamba, noted that the move to reopen the borders would help to rebuild the workforce in lorry depots, where drivers had found themselves out of work.
Around 300 companies will re-employ 24,000 people, as they slowly get back on the road.
Despite the pandemic, Cote d’Ivoire had relatively few Covid-related deaths, with only 800 recorded out of a population of 27 million.
Last month, President Alassane Ouattara, commended the country’s management of the pandemic and announced a progressive easing of restrictive measures put in place during the health state of emergency.
