The Ministers of State in charge of Burkinabe defense, Brigadier General, Kassoum Coulibaly and Ivorian, Téné Birahima Ouattara, met on Thursday April 18, 2024 in Niangoloko, on the Ivory Coast-Burkinabe border. “We leave Niangoloko with hearts full of joy.
We have reviewed all the points of relations between the two countries and I can assure you that this meeting in Niangoloko will give a new start to relations between Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire.
We can only congratulate ourselves on what has just happened today and I will say no more,” said Téné Birahima Ouattara at the end of the meeting. For his part, the Minister of State, Kassoum Coulibaly, said “it is appropriate that the two neighboring nations always talk to each other and ensure that there is no breakdown in dialogue.”
This meeting carries a strong symbol given the fact that relations between the two neighbors have been marked by misunderstandings for some time. If Burkina accepted it, at the request of Côte d’Ivoire, it is because it welcomed this outstretched hand, in a difficult security context with terrorist attacks which
spare no one. Moreover, Ouagadougou and Abidjan also know that insecurity and development do not go well together.
The most important thing was therefore this direct contact from Niangoloko where Burkinabè and Ivorians gave a lesson in realpolitik. Times have changed, we have to deal with it, taking responsibility.
These two countries, through “Operation Comoé” carried out in 2020, had mobilized soldiers to track down the armed bandits who roam their common border. Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso have made peace a foundation, so that they can find a solution to any dispute or common problem.
Given the current affairs of the two countries, other questions could arise, such as that linked to the border line between two countries which, not 100 years ago, constituted one and the same entity.
Were General Kassoum Coulibaly and his Ivorian counterpart Birahima Ouattara able to address all these questions in a single day? Time counts and we must not waste it.
They refused to divulge the content of the discussions, reserving exclusivity for Presidents Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina and Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast. This certainly means that this first meeting could lead to others. Whatever anyone says, this meeting was more than necessary, and many Ivorian and Burkinabe patriots hope for no better.
Assétou BADOH