(JollofNews) – A first round of Senegal-Gambia talks to end a three-month border blockade has ended without agreement amid an impasse over a long-delayed bridge project, a senior advisor to Senegal’s foreign minister said on Monday.
“We will consult our experts about the issue of the bridge, and the next meeting will be in July,” the advisor said after several hours of talks between Senegal’s foreign minister Mankeur Ndiaye and his Gambian counterpart Neneh Mcdouall-Geye on Sunday.
The advisor said the Dakar government would encourage militant truckers blocking commercial traffic to halt the standoff. “Senegal will work with those involved to re-open the border to traffic,” the source said.
The blockade, which has created shortages of essential daily items on both sides of the frontier, followed the Gambia’s decision to slap a hundred-fold hike on fees for trucks entering its territory.
The hike on fees came without warning in February, infuriating Senegalese drivers, and was later reversed.
Senegal’s militant transport trade unionists have told AFP they will continue their blockade until they win 24-hour passage across the border and clear progress on building a bridge.
A bridge spanning Gambia’s river would allow much faster journey times between northern and southern Senegal, but an initial plan to complete a bridge by 2017 has been delayed for decades.
Mcdouall-Geye has told journalists that the proposed design of the much-delayed bridge was unacceptable in its current form and would hamper navigation.
“[The river] has to be navigable. The design of the bridge doesn’t allow it to be navigable,” she said, also invoking concerns among environmentalists that it could damage the delicate ecosystem of the area.
bridge or close the borther is up tou you Nene maccdouall and your killer president yahya jameh senegal will not negociate.bridge or close the borther bridge or close the borther bridge or close the borther
Did she went for brother issue or for the bridge? To change the design of the bridge is Jammeh’s idea but he forgot that Senegal is a Democratic state and so he cannot dictate Senegal when they already agreed and secure the fund of the bridge from the African development Bank. Border closure affect Gambia than Senegal as Senegal shared border with 5 countries am Gambia is the smallest among those 5, when one is lock up it doesn’t affect Senegal thou people living around the border can be considered but other than that Senegal is free to go without opening it’s border with the Gambia. Gambians are tired of Jammeh’s killer regime and they are counting months to get him in prison.
you guys all keep saying yoy r tired of jammeh tel me who do u have in mind that is better am sure u cant answer this question cuz there is no one gambians wake up look at iraq lybia syria dectators as u called them are gone since they killed them or fighting them what good is happening in the country wake up gambia wake up he is the best for gambia gambia is as equal as senegal peae full no problems when someone wants to act out of the goverment rules bare what ever comes a liberian man once said when u make a mistake no one pays for ur mistake but u ur self
by the way just a smalll hint please think of how to have the border issue solved and think peacefully so the gambia can move forward although its moving without u
keep this smelly mouth of yours shut! Gambians are not interested with you history lesson History Professor. We Gambians are very sure we will never reduce ourselves to zero because we very well knew that with a dictator like Jammeh, Gambians are reduced to millions of zeros. That is why, we are about to be objects of universal derision as other people are seeing us. But never on earth. With a smile, I AM HAPPY TO TELL YOU THAT we Gambians will never accept ourselves to be pageboys of Jammeh the tyrant, dictator, murderer, and unscrupulous leader. If you have your commends for such a leader like FOOL Jammeh, well, die with it, and get your names in Jammeh’s record books. What will it earn you dud? Sorry to describe you in this way but you are another KIND OF A FOOL ON EARTH simply because you cannot discern what is good or bad for the Gambia and Gambians. I am sure you and many others who thinks the same way are all dregs in any interdependent society. You have no worth, and no element of value can be discern in you by your own family members hence you have the guts to categorically spelt it out out in your above statement that there is no Gambian better than Jammeh. Don’t you know that is an insult to us Gambians and to your own family. I AND MANY OTHER GAMBIANS WILL NEVER TREAT YOUR INSULTS WITH A CHILD’S GLOVE. Look! LET ME REMIND THAT since the day your mother egg and your father’s sperm got fused and a zygote formed which flows through your mother’s Fallopian tube into her womb for implantation, be enlightened that this was a process your mother endured in pain as she laid beneath your father who sweats furiously to accomplish a matrimonial pleasure. They did it not only enjoy the pleasure but expects their prayers to be answered which is to get a child who would be much revered. Know it, through this process for both enjoyment and getting a child, the zygote formed through the process stays to develop in your mother’s womb for months to the date your mother’s legs were tilted and her erogenous zone sprawl open to bring you to this world.This was difficult and painful for your mother but with higher expectation in you, she endure the whole pain without anybody knowing it. She expects you to be worthy than any other person. But you see, with your mediocre way of calculating with your little primitive soul, you have failed your parents. I believed that they had never sat and though that you were going to sit one day to value another person more than yourself when Allah created all equal. I want you to know that Jammeh cannot be equated with many many Gambians because if Jammeh is weighed on a balance, he will a weight a weigh of a mosquito as of now. Yes, be informed that we have many more Gambians far better than Jammeh. Very soon time will spell it out onto your shameless face fool. Very soon prominent individuals will come the aid of Gambians. Gambia and Gambians will soon be free. Just a matter of time.