Senegalese Take Refuge At Embassy

http://allafrica.com/stories/200306110013.html

The Daily Observer (Banjul)
NEWS
June 11, 2003
Posted to the web June 11, 2003

By Modika Bah & Pa Malick Faye
Banjul

Hundreds of Senegalese nationals based in and around the Greater Banjul
Area have assembled at their High Commissioner behind the Pipeline Mosque
with their belongings ready to leave The Gambia.

Most of them are youths. They say they want to leave because they are
concerned about their safety in The Gambia in the wake of the recent
football trouble.

Some of them pointedly said their return to Senegal would be temporary and
that they hope to The Gambia when the security situation improves.
Conservative estimates put at 400,000 the number of Senegalese living in
The Gambia. Most of them are in gainful employment and their abrupt
departure will cause severe economic loss to themselves and the local
economy.

The Senegalese taking refuge at the High Commission said they wanted a
speedy resolution to the crisis. They registered their disappointment over
the way their High Commissioner has handled the situation since the crisis
started.

One of them, Salieu Mbowe, said, "since we arrived here, we have seen
neither the High Commissioner nor any senior staff of the embassy and each
day we are told to register to enable them to arrange transport for us but
until now this did not happen. Our Foreign minister was here with a special
flight but failed to take along any of us which should not be the case."

National Assembly Minority leader, Halifa Sallah, who visited the
Senegalese, called for a better understanding between the two countries.




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