A meeting between Liberian and La Cote d I’voire  Chiefs  and Elders opened in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County.

The five-day event which began Wednesday October 16, 2013 with the arrival of more than 108 chiefs and elders from border region in Liberia and Ivory Coast will be climaxed on Saturday October 19, 2013 with Presidents Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and her counterpart, President Alassane Quattara of Coted’Ivoire receiving resolutions from the Chiefs and Elders on ways to enhance and solidity peace and security especially on the border lines of the two neighboring countries.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Internal Affairs, Morris M. Dukuly said he hopes the forum will provide an opportunity and a platform for representatives of the two countries, particularly local officials along the common border to dialogue and consult on matters relating to the sustenance of peace between the two countries.

Minister Dukuly: “We in Liberia are hopeful that the outcome of our deliberations will strengthen our friendship, bolster trans-border security and elevate our cooperation to a new level, in the interest of our people.”

High lighting the long standing ties between the two countries, Minister Dukuly noted that in the quest for the liberation of Africa, Liberia as the only independent African nation at the time, championed the cause of the liberation of African countries most importantly, Cote d’Ivoire which finally got her independent on August 7, 1960.

He narrated that in the years that followed, President Félix Houphouët-Boigny embraced the friendship of his counterpart President   William V. S. Tubman, and as their bond strengthened and deepened, the two nations grew in mutual respect, cooperation, and unity.

“During the tenure of President William R. Tolbert, Jr. who served for nineteen years as Vice President to President Tubman, a romantic flavor was added to the already strong Liberian-Ivorian relations when A. Benedict Tolbert, son of President Tolbert, took the hand of Daisy, daughter of President Houphouët-Boigny, into marriage.” “It is perhaps the deep admiration that President Tolbert had of President Houphouët-Boigny, while serving as vice president that fashioned these personal bonds at the highest levels of our two governments” Minister Dukuly intimated.

“you may recalled that when we spoke of the atmosphere that prevailed in this region then, we did not only speak of peace as we do today, we spoke of peace and tranquility,’ a characterization that seems to have receded into memory in recent years”. The Minister told the gathering. 

He recalled that as the 1959 meeting sowed the seed of what today is the African Union, formerly the Organization of African Unity, he is optimistic that this meeting will open a new page in the relationship between the two post-conflict countries.

Minister Dukuly used the occasion to praise the host county Grand Gedeh for the reception being accorded their guests adding that, this meeting presents the opportunity for the people of the county to rebrand and remarket themselves to shed any and all stereotypical imagery that people may have on their minds about the county or its people.