By Umaru Sitta Turay
The Vice President of Sierra Leone has said in Conakry that the African Development Bank has provided funds for the construction of a Peace Bridge over the Makona River in the disputed border town Yenga in Eastern Sierra Leone. Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh who led a high level delegation to the Republic of Guinea last week to discuss security cooperation and regional integration said soon as the two countries sign the necessary paperwork, the project would begin.
The bridge project is seen as a good strategy to enhance interaction and trade between the peoples of both countries and so diffuse tension over the ownership of Yenga, an enclave inside Sierra Leone but also claimed by the republic of Guinea.
Vice President Juldeh Jalloh told the Prime Minister of Guinea Mohamed Beavogui that funding was still being sought for a second project to construct a road link between the northern town of Kabala in Sierra Leone and Faranah in the republic of Guinea but that there were good signs the project would eventually come to reality.
Dr. Jalloh said both countries would ‘benefit tremendously from the two projects’ in the areas of trade, tourism, intercultural exchange and there would be peace between the two neighboring countries when the project were completed.
The two delegations were divided into working groups to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to guide the other processes leading to the actualization of both projects.
Seven individuals from both sides met at the Finance Ministry in Conakry to constitute a working committee that will be in charge of developing the framework on which these projects will start. The committee will have an office space in Freetown and Conakry.
Guinean Prime Minister Mohamed Beavougi told the Sierra Leone delegation that his country was ready to play its part under the MoU to strengthen trade, interaction and peace between the two countries.
The writer is teh Press Attache at the Sierra Leone embassy in Guinea
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