Burkina Faso–Côte d'Ivoire border

A colony that came and went

Côte d’Ivoire became a French colony in 1893 and gained Bouna, Kong and Odienné from French Sudan in 1899. In 1903 a decree moved the rebellious Lobi, Birifor and Dagari villages of northern Bouna to a military territory run from Bobo-Dioulasso, and set a new north-eastern boundary for Côte d’Ivoire.^[1]

Upper Volta was carved out of Upper Senegal and Niger in 1919. A decree of 5 September 1932 abolished it and divided it among Côte d’Ivoire, French Sudan and Niger; Côte d’Ivoire got the largest share, including Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou, run from 1937 as Upper Ivory Coast. Upper Volta was reconstituted on 4 September 1947, and the old line between them returned.^[1]

“The insurgent villages of the Lobis, Birifous, and Dagaris, located in the northern part of the Bouna District (Ivory Coast) shall be attached to the Second Military Territory.”^[1]

Hills, then rivers

From the Black Volta the eastern part of the line runs between villages across low hills, small streams and short straight lines. From the Kodoun river westward it is all rivers: down the Kodoun to the Comoé, up the Comoé to the Léraba, and up the Léraba and Léraba Occidentale to the Mali tripoint.^[1]

Côte d’Ivoire became independent on 7 August 1960 and Upper Volta on 5 August 1960. In 1979 the US State Department had still not obtained the colonial decrees behind the line, from either country or from France, and knew of no disputed sectors.^[1]

The line today

Strictly, the line has never been defined by an international agreement: its course has to be inferred from French administrative practice and maps of 1899–1960. The tripoints with Mali and Ghana are 326 km apart, but because the border follows winding rivers for about two-thirds of the way it is roughly 650 km long. Neither country has contested it, and there have been occasional reports of the two governments working on a new delimitation agreement.^[2]