Ivory Coast reopens land borders

The Ivorian government has announced the reopening of land borders.

Report says the borders had been closed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The Council adopted a decree opening the land borders of Côte d’Ivoire,” the government spokesperson, Amadou Coulibaly said.

Côte d’Ivoire closed its land, sea, and air borders on March 22, 2020, when the whole world was barricaded against the pandemic.

While the sea and air borders reopened after a few months, the land borders remained closed.

Meanwhile, another reason why land borders have reopened is to crack down on illegal crossings and redirect travellers to official border posts instead.

“We are now in control of the clandestine transit routes, we invite all travellers to use the official routes from now on,” Coulibaly said.

Côte d’Ivoire borders Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.

Millions of people from these countries living on Ivorian soil had to take back roads to their home countries.

BBC/Christopher Ojilere