Guinea reopens land borders with Senegal, Guinea-Bissau

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – Guinean military leaders Wednesday reopened the country’s land border with Senegal, a day after reopening its border with Guinea-Bissau.

A brief statement by the governing National Rallying Committee for Development (CNRD) read on state television said security and COVID-19 health protocols would be enforced for travelers, including proof of negative test and vaccination.

Earlier on Tuesday, the military reopened its border with Guinea-Bissau at a ceremony witnessed by military authorities from both countries.

Alpha Conde, the Guinean president who was deposed earlier this month in a military coup led by colonel Mamady Doumbouya, ordered the borders' closure in September last year, a few weeks before the October presidential election, citing security reasons.

The move greatly affected businesses between the countries.

In media interviews then, Conde contended that “all attempts to destabilize Guinea emanated from Senegal.”

He also accused some civil society activists and opposition leaders in exile of organizing an insurrection and using the Guinea –Senegal border to traffic army weapons into the country.

Four months ago before being overthrown, the former head of state signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall, but the border remained closed.

Thierno Amadou Daka, president of the regional chamber of commerce of Labe, a central city in the Guinean region, told local media that peoples’ businesses had been grounded and the reopening brought a sigh of relief to traders.

The military junta on Monday unveiled its “transitional charter” that it said will help steer the West African country back to the civilian rule.

Conde, 83, became Guinea’s first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015.

But last year, he pushed through constitutional changes that allowed him to run for a controversial third term in October 2020, which he won in an election dismissed as a sham by the opposition. Mass demonstrations in which dozens of protestors were reported killed erupted after the election.