Ghana-Togo border at Aflao should remain permanently open-Togbe Fiti.

Aflao, Jan. 17, GNA - Togbe Amenya Fiti, Paramount Chief of the Aflao Traditional Area, on Tuesday appealed to the Togo to consider keeping its side of the border at Aflao permanently open. He said barring any other considerations, the relationship and collaboration between Ghana and Togo had improved beyond doubt to allow for the permanent opening of the common frontier.

Togbe Fiti said this when he inaugurated a 26-member joint border committee for Aflao and Kodzovikope in Togo as a common platform to fight the HIV/AIDS in the two border communities under a World Bank financed project at Aflao. Cote d' Ivoire, Togo, Ghana, Benin and Nigeria are members of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization (ALCO) that is fighting the virus in all border communities linking the five countries.

Togbe Fiti agreed with the view that travel bottlenecks at entry points brought stranded travelers and businessmen into contact with prostitutes, making them vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS.

"Keeping the frontier permanently open in addition to easing travel procedure will facilitate traffic and business flow and thereby enhance the World Bank's anti HIV project."

Togbe Fiti appealed to fellow traditional authorities in the border communities to support the project, saying they risked having their subjects wiped out by the virus.

Madam Rose Arena, Togo Country Financial Director of ALCO, said travel-processing equipment had to be improved upon to eliminate delays at the borders.

Mr Emmanuel Impraim, a Chief Collector of CEPS in charge of the Aflao sector, is the joint committee chairman, with Mr Anani Kpegba, his Togolese counterpart at Kodzoviakope, as the vice chairman.