Not necessarily. What it suggests, however, is that Senegal seems to be making all the right moves to take advantage of the void created by the political and economic missteps of her neighbours. For example, Senegal, a major shareholder in the defunct Air Afrique, and knowing that the airline was headed for liquidation, facilitated Air Senegal's partnership with Royal Air Maroc - a deal concluded even before Air Afrique was/is liquidated (I am not sure if the process has been concluded). The same applies to the SAA/Air Senegal International partnership. Abidjan was the West African hub for most of the major airlines flying to Europe and the Americas. The hub seems to be shifting to Dakar because of the current problems in CI and aided by deliberate government policy. As regard the BA service, no further information is available beyond Wade's pronouncement. Senegal's investment code has attractive concessions for investors. It is also considered to be the most stable country in West Africa with business- friendly environment. Gambia's misery or no misery, Senegal's current position is hard to beat by any ECOWAS member country. My personal opinion, of course. Sidi Sanneh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~