Monrovia, Liberia - Liberia 16th -19th June 2025 hosts a four-day  Regional  Meeting of the African Union Border Program (AUBP) in Monrovia.

The AUBP was launched in 2007 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by the conference of African Ministers Responsible for Borders. It aims to facilitate and support the delimitation and demarcation of African borders that have not yet been demarcated, support and strengthen cross-border cooperation including the signing of cross-border agreements, and strengthen the capacities of actors operating in border governance.

Since their independence, African countries have had territorial concerns and tensions in their effort to assert their sovereignty.These established territorial limits that were accepted by the continental leaders were admitted in the name of the Principle “uti possidetis” holding sacred the inviolability of borders provided for by the  Charter of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and reaffirmed by the Charter of the African Union,(AU).               

The African Union through the AUBP has repeatedly encouraged member nations to establish national institutions for border governance through its various resolutions and strategic documents. At its Addis Ababa 2016 meeting, the ministers of member nations responsible for borders urged the member nations to develop and implement a national policy on borders and to set up and sustain a national body responsible for border issues if not yet done. 

Additionally, the 33rd Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in 2020 adopted the African Union Strategy for better integrated border governance pillar I of which focus is on the development of bordergovernance capabilities, in which it recommended that member nations strengthen their border institutions or create news ones.

In recent decades, the national border structures have emerged or been revitalized in part to support the work of the multiple joint commissions set up between neighboring states. The latter operate jointly in processes related to the delimitation and demarcation of their common borders. 

This development has been made possible through the support of the African Union Boundary Program, the implementation of which has been supported since its launch by the Federal Republic of Germany as part of its development cooperation through GIZ.

The meeting to set up the Joint Technical Commission for the reaffirmation of land boundaries and the delimitation of Maritime boundaries between Liberia and its neighbors (Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Sierra Leone) is part of the implementation of the action plan of the capacity-building framework for border governance developed by the AUBP. 

The Section on strengthening institutional mechanisms of this action plan identified the following topics: Training of staff in border management, creation of border commission, institutional reform and development, tools and institutional mechanisms for border management, different dimensions from the creation to the organization and functioning of a national institution.

Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have committed themselves through their national structures in charge of borders on the one hand and through ad hoc committees on the other hand to provide peaceful and lasting solutions to the various problems related to governance of their common border areas. Thus during the regional workshop for the planning of activities within the framework of the implementation of theAUBP held from June 13-15, 2023 in Abidjan, Cote D’voire, representatives of the national structures in charge of border management in Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone met and made bilateral and multilateral planning to jointly implement measures for the reaffirmation of their common borders and for the development of their shared border areas. 

The final communiqué of the Abidjan meeting recommended, among other things, the establishment of the Joint Technical Commission for the materialization/reaffirmation of the various land boundaies and delimitation of the maritime boundariesbetween Cote D’ivoire and Liberia, Guinea and Liberia and Sierra Leone and Liberia followed by the holding of the first meetings of the said commission in Monrovia, Liberia.

The AUBP Monrovia Meeting is aimed at facilitating the coordination, planning, and implementation of activities for the delimitation and demarcation of common boundaries and cross-border cooperation between the Four AU member nations of the Mano River Union Area. 

The meeting will specifically focus on the setting up of the Joint Technical Commission for the reaffirmation of the land boundary and delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Cote D’ivoire and Liberia, Guinea and Liberia, hold capacity building sessions for participants on border governance, including border delimitation/demarcation and cross border cooperation and develop a roadmap for each Joint Technical Commission for land Boundary Reaffirmation and Maritime Boundary Delimitation set up. The AUBP regional meeting will conclude with the following:

I. Setting up of three Joint Technical Commissions for the Reaffirmation of Land Boundaries and delimitation of Maritime Boundaries for Côte D’ivoire and Liberia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and Liberia and Guinea

II. A roadmap drawn up for each Joint Technical Commission for the Reaffirmation of the land Boundary and Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary

III. participants sensitized to border governance and better equipped on issues of border delimitation and demarcation and cross-border cooperation

IV. Briefing of host country decision-makers on the various aspects of the implementation of the AU Border program, including the delimitation and demarcation of borders between Liberia and its neighbors.

Participants of the four –day AUBP regional meeting are drawn from Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, and Liberia. Representatives of the African Union, ECOWAS, Mano River Union,  Makona River Organization, and development partners are also expected to participate in the meeting.