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The prime ministers of Guinea-Bissau and Senegal are due to hold talks Friday on ending the cross-border raids by unidentified armed gangs that have resulted in frequent border closures, according to news reports.
Villagers in the southern administrative department of Kolda had unilaterally closed the border because of raids on their homes and seizure of their property prompting a similar response from Guinea-Bissau villagers, PANA reported on Thursday.
After a meeting with the villagers on Wednesday, Senegalese Prime Minister Moustapha Niasse announced an increase in the number of troops in the region and promised additional vehicles for the army. His Guinea-Bissau counterpart, Gaetano Ntchama, said in Dakar that Bissau would reopen its side of the border on his return home Friday at the end of his two-day visit.
"We are obliged to do so, since we are members of UEMOA, ECOWAS and the African Union," Ntchama said, according to the Dakar daily, 'Le Soleil'.
UEMOA (the Union economique et monetaire ouest africaine) and ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) are geared to creating greater integration among 15 countries in the subregion.
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