NEWS
Gambia Detains Senegalese Troops Amid Tensions- Reuters News Agency Reported
BY STAFF WRITER



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September 20, 2005
Relationship between The Gambia and Senegal seems to be worsening as latest
news speak of 15 Senegalese soldiers currently being held in The Gambia on
security related issues, The ALLGAMBIAN can reveal.

According to a breaking news story ran by the Reuters News Agency "The armed
and uniformed Senegalese troops were detained near the main market in the
Gambian capital of Banjul. The soldiers said they had come to buy sugar and
satellite dishes, which are cheaper in Gambia than in Senegal. They were
taken for questioning in a nearby naval base, the military officer, who
asked not be named"

The story which appeared on Google news alert, a major news distributor went
on to add "that Senegalese officials said they were not aware of the
detentions, which occurred as an acrimonious dispute over the fee for the
Gambia river crossing strained bilateral ties."

Reuters also quoted a Gambian military official of having said that "We
found the Senegalese soldiers in two pick-up trucks some 500 meters (yards)
from the market. Now we are going to find out what they were doing right in
the heart of Banjul."

The news agency went on to describe The Gambia as "One of Africa's smallest
states, finger-shaped Gambia nearly divides Senegal's territory in two,
stretching 350 km (217 miles) inland from the Atlantic seaboard along the
banks of the Gambia river."

Relations between the two neighbours Reuters went on soured last month when
Banjul hiked the fee for the Gambia river crossing which links the two
halves of Senegal, a former French colony.

Senegalese bus drivers, the news agency went on have blockaded the road to
and from Gambia, forcing vehicles to cover hundreds of extra kilometres
(miles) to reach Senegal's southern province of Casamance and disrupting
trade with Gambia.

According to Reuters, "The dispute is also affecting supplies of goods and
foodstuffs to Guinea-Bissau, which borders southern Senegal."

The said incident followed recent newspaper reports in Senegal that two
Gambians were killed in Kanifing and six others critically injured in a
border demonstration as communities lamented the Senegalese/Gambia border
closure. Gambia's inspector General of police however, denied the story
saying such reports were peddled by people he described as interested in
jeopardising "the peace and stability of The Gambia."

Meanwhile, The Gambian government is yet to react to the alleged detention
of Senegalese soldiers in The Gambia.



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