Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has renewed calls for Africa to become a borderless continent, arguing that greater integration among African countries would help curb xenophobic attacks and strengthen continental unity.

Speaking in a special interview on JoyNews' Newsfile programme on Saturday, Mr Ablakwa said the vision of a united Africa remains a key objective for Ghana and the African Union at large.

According to him, many of the continent's current borders, which were artificially created by colonial powers during the Berlin Conference, dividing people who share common histories, cultures and identities, must be overthrown.

He explained that removing barriers to movement across Africa would serve as a powerful vehicle for uniting Africans and fostering a stronger sense of shared identity.

Mr Ablakwa further argued that deeper integration would reduce hostility towards migrants and help address the xenophobic attacks that have periodically occurred in some African countries.

"When you look back, May 25 1963, the visions that Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah aspired. He was expecting that by now we would have a borderless Africa, the common market, the single currency, one central bank, one standby force, so that these artificial boundaries, which were haphazardly drawn by Otto von Bismarck and his friends at the Berlin conference, we would pull down these artificial boundaries and come together," he said.

"It is really a shame that after all these decades of the African unity dream, we will have an African country target Africans," he bemoaned.

The Foreign Affairs Minister stressed that Africa's long-term prosperity depends on greater cooperation among its people and nations, adding that the continent must work towards realising the dream of a more united and integrated Africa.

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Okudzeto Ablakwa renews call for borderless Africa to stop xenophobia

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