Joint ministerial team tours border areas

A 16-member Togolese delegation and a team of Ghanaian officials began on Thursday a two-day tour of troubled communities along their common border, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reported. Both delegations are headed by their interior ministers and are meeting border communities to verify claims that people on the Togolese side of the frontier had removed boundary pillars. The commanding officer of the Ghana Army's Medium Mortar Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel John Fokuo, said international boundary pillars 1 to 148 between Togo and Ghana were jointly installed in 1974. However, he said, the Togolese destroyed most of the pillars and even mounted their flags in some communities where commercial transactions are done in the CFA franc used by Togo and other French-speaking West African states, GNA reported. Fokuo said this had caused much tension and casualties on both sides especially in the Ho, Hohoe, Jasikan and Kadjebi districts. Speaking before leaving to inspect the border, Togolese Interior and Security Minister General Sizing Walla said the government was anxious to find solutions to the problem and called for tolerance and a sense of understanding to ensure peaceful relationship and good neighbourliness. His Ghanaian counterpart, Nii Okaija Adamafio, said the two countries, which share common cultural, historical and social ties, must live in mutual respect and work to uplift the well being of their people, GNA reported.