General News of Thursday, 28 April 2005

Source: GNA

Togo reopens border

Aflao, (V/R) April. 28, GNA - Togo on Thursday afternoon opened its side of the border with Ghana at Aflao, ending a seven-day long closure. There was a headlong rush of large crowds of people at both ends of the border, some stranded for days, to cross when the border re-opened. A Ghanaian Border Security Officer told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that they had a hectic time in handling people as they scuttled for safe passage in and out.

He said the Togolese border security, however, were still on the alert, with extra checks on movements making the flow of human traffic much slower on their side than in Ghana.

Some trans ECOWAS haulage trucks had already crossed the border from Ghana into Togo, while drivers and clerks on others were processing papers to cross when the Ghana News Agency (GNA) got to the border. Economic activity had also picked up at Aflao alongside the noticeable increase in human and vehicular movements.

Togo last Friday closed its frontier ahead of last Sunday's troubled presidential polls, and kept it shut as tension grew between the opposition and the governing party over the conduct and results of the polls.