Sierra Leone’s border management capacity has received a major boost with the installation of the first Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS).
MIDAS is a user-friendly and customizable Border Management Information System (BMIS) with the capability to collect, store, and analyse travellers’ biographic and biometric information in real time and across an entire border network. The system crucially enables countries to more effectively monitor people entering and exiting their territories while providing statistical basis for migration policy-related planning.
Officials hope that the system installed at the border crossing point to Guinea in Gbalamuya in the northern Kambia District will also help counter transnational crime and accelerate economic growth through enhanced border management.
Gbalamuya is one of two major land border crossing points between Sierra Leone and its neighbours Guinea and Liberia.
The MIDAS was installed with support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Sierra Leone’s Chief Immigration Officer (CIO), Alusine Kanneh said at the launching ceremony on Saturday 20th January that the facility is a boost to national security,
“With such installation in place, we will now provide sensitive information about people who travel through the Sierra Leone-Guinea border to government agencies,” Mr Kanneh was quoted in a news release from his office.
The immigration chief added that his hope is to have the same system installed at other key points of entry and land border crossing points, including the Freetown International Airport and Gendema, the second land border crossing point linking Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Christos Christodoulides, IOM’s Head of Mission in Sierra Leone, said work on the installation of the system started two years ago. He expressed delight that Sierra Leone finally got a system that has been in use in other countries across the West Africa sub region.
Sierra Leone is a country characterized by dynamic migration flows. The government has been battling the issue of illegally migration, notably to the Middle East and Europe.
Sierra Leone shares 794 kilometers long land border with Guinea and 327 with Liberia. Within these spaces are numerous informal crossing points that aid illegal migration, which is a major concern for IOM. The UN agency has been involved in efforts to repatriate and reintegrate victims of illegal migration through economic empowerment projects.
“We are really hoping that this MIDAS system itself will help the Government of Sierra Leone in collecting the relevant information we want,” said Christodoulides.
The IOM boss added that they are currently working with the Government to finalize the Integrated Border Management strategies, which he described as an integral part of the national migration policy launched in 2022.
“This is just an important step of the border management information system that the government has committed to support the implementation of the national migration policy and very soon we will have a dedicated integrated border management strategy” he stated.
