Gambia: Report The Case According To Dakar

Apart from these accusations, the Gambian newspaper also condemned the Senegalese authorities of committing genocide against the people of the Casamance province and even likened it to what is happening in the western Sudanese province of Darfur . Surprised at the tone and the language of a newspaper widely known to be secretly owned by President Jammeh himself, many Gambians have not only been apprehensive about the possible consequences of the rising tensions between the two states, they have remained baffled at what might have laid behind the hysteric claims of the authorities in Banjul.

The Gambia Journal Dakar correspondent visited the area to see if he could find out what really lies underneath the deteriorating relations. First he met with some of the named Gambian dissidents who all denied having ever met with the Interior Minister. “It is true that some of us do at times visit the ministry, but this is only to regularize our stay in the country,” one of them told the Gambia Journal correspondent. “This is not about any plans. If we should discuss military plans, it will not be with the minister of interior but with security and military professionals for God’s sake. The minister knows nothing about military planning.” Another of the Gambian dissidents said that the accusations display the “ignorance of the government in Banjul .” He revealed that some of them go to the Interior Ministry every two weeks for security reasons as “ Dakar is awash with NIA agents who are bent on even abducting some of us. We have to protect ourselves by informing the authorities of the country. We know most of the Gambian agents having worked with them earlier, ” he said.

In the provincial Casamance capital of Ziguinchor , our correspondent had discussions with members of various NGOs who later introduced him to meet two senior army officers and a Dakar-based government civil servant who was temporarily in Ziguinchor for election duties. All three asked not to be named because they said they were speaking without authorization. What they told the correspondent was however confounding. It emerged that at the end of April President Wade had send a special envoy to Banjul to tender concrete evidence showing that “ The Gambia continues to support the secessionist rebels with arms, medication, cash, hideouts, and everything.” He alleged that they know that both Sadio and Dieme (leaders of two rival rebel groups) are regular visitors of Kaninlai to meet with President Jammeh “in spite of everything.”

Apparently, after some heavy fighting between the Senegalese soldiers and rebels near Bingona, three captured rebels and one dead one were all found with Gambian identity cards. The dead man also carried another card saying “KMC Police.” Back in September 2006 a number of assault rifles officially belonging to the Gambia Armed Forces were also seized by the Senegalese army. The mine that struck a Red Cross (ICRC) car in Tandine, around 100km northeast of Ziguinchor, late last year has been proved to be from The Gambia .. The explosion killed one international ICRC staff member and wounded three others. The ICRC and Senegalese government had sought help from experts who traced mine to The Gambia after having been supplied by Libya. The same goes for an anti-tank mine laid in Boulayor, 80km north of the regional capital Ziguinchor that killed a Senegalese soldier in April. The men believed that the sea cargo of machine guns, mortars, rocket launchers, anti-tank mines bound for Casamance but intercepted at sea by Guinea Bissau several months ago were from Ivory Coast but were “paid for by President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia . Another cargo of ammunition and explosives for the rebels captured in April 2007 came directly from The Gambia, the men claim.

When our correspondent suggested that all these “evidences” might just have been incidental given the porous nature of the borders and the closed ties between the peoples at both side of the borders, he was cut short by one of the military officers who said, “Before, we thought in those lines, now we know the hard facts. I can tell you the rebels use The Gambia as a rearguard base, so now the Senegalese state is taking its prerogative to secure the zone,” he said. “We have redeployed the army there to assure the security of the population and soon you will see, things will change and will be better.” “Better for who ?” The other military officer answered back, “Better for the people of the whole Senegambia .”

Gambia: Report The Case According To Dakar

Anna Loum