Culled From the Independent

Gambian voters cards found in Senegalese hands

A large group of Senegalese crossing into Senegal from the Gambia has been
arrested by that country’s authorities for possessing Gambian voters’ cards
and ID cards. 150 Senegalese who were apparently leaving The Gambia a week
after the presidential election, were apprehended by Senegalese Douanes
after they were discovered with Gambian documents among them voter cards
used in the last election. Many of them had indelible ink on their fingers
while they were trying to pass through border checkpoints into Senegal. The
Senegalese security personnel were at first confused over the discovery of
both Gambian and Senegalese documents carried by the travelers who had
appeared suspicious to them.

Speaking to The Independent on Tuesday at Seleti a Senegalese Gendarmerie
Corporal Diatta said that a week after the election about 90 Senegalese were
arrested crossing the border into Senegal with Gambian documents.

According to Diatta, they were later evacuated to Dakar for illegally
holding two country’s documents, which he said, is a criminal offence.
Corporal Diatta advised The Independent to visit Diouloulou, in Senegal “to
get more information.” A Gambian driver name (withheld) who spoke to our
reporter had this to say: “Well, I can tell you that I voted for President
Jammeh but to tell you the truth, many Casamance people voted in our
(Gambian) election.” He stated that many Senegalese have Gambian documents
but also pointed out that Gambians are also guilty of having Senegalese
documents.

The driver also disclosed that even some of the rebels from the province of
Casamance in Senegal have Gambian identity cards, voters’ cards and
passports. The driver, who plies The Gambia-Casamance route also confirmed
that Senegalese security forces have arrested many Senegalese. “Many
Senegalese whom I know joined my vehicle during and after the presidential
election” he said.

The Independent visited the village of Diouloulou, where there is a big
Gendarmerie camp, and in a snap interview one Sergeant Diatta a Senegalese
security officer asserted that “some illiterates had unlawfully participated
in the Gambian election.” Sergeant Diatta stressed that the law will deal
drastically with any individual or group of people found with another
neighboring country’s documents.

Meanwhile some people interviewed in the Senegalese village asserted that
they have Gambian documents because they are Gambians but that since their
marriage in Senegal, they have been away from their homeland. “I am a
Gambian by birth but I am married to a Senegalese and I am now living here,
so I think it is a right for me to get a Gambian voters card and all other
documents,” Jainaba Jurju a house wife said. “I did not get the voters card
just to make President Jammeh victorious in the election or on tribal lines
but for my right to get it” Jainaba confidently stated.




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