Why Did Senegal Boycott Banjul Talks?
By Waah Jotnah, State House, Banjul The Gambia
Barely 48 hours after the much–talked about Joint Ministerial Meeting between The Gambia and Senegal failed, a special correspondent who uses the pseudonym Waah Jotnah from the President’s Office examines the intricate details of Senegambian geo-politics and the reasons why the Senegalese failed to turn up.
The non-attendance of Senegalese Ministers at the Joint Commission on Senegalo-Gambian Cooperation is a serious blow to Yahya Jammeh’s regime. One would have thought that with pressing issues facing Senegal and The Gambia; determined effort should have gone into the preparation of this important Meeting to ensure full participation of both parties. Unfortunately, as we can now conclude from the Joint Communiqué on 2nd November issued by the two Foreign Ministers, the meeting was an absolute failure because of the non-attendance of our Senegalese brethren. As a result, the communiqué therefore failed to address in any substantive manner the issue concerning the Trans-Gambia Bridge Project, the Re-establishment of the Senegalo-Gambian Secretariat and other pending matters relating to security.
In reality, the meeting that took place in Banjul on the 1 – 2 November 2007 cannot be considered as the Joint Meeting of the Commission on Senegalo - Gambian Cooperation because such a Commission can only be co-chaired by the Vice President of The Gambia and the Prime Minister of Senegal. The Senegalese Prime Minister and the rest of his Ministers boycotted the Meeting which effectively reduced its status and thus the binding nature of its decision. Their absence can only be interpreted as a statement of dissatisfaction at the regime of Yahya Jammeh who has recently accused Senegal of destabilizing The Gambia and providing sanctuary to Col. Ndure Cham, leader of the failed March 2006 coup d’etat.
The communiqué signed on 2 November 2007 in Banjul between the two Foreign Ministers can best be regarded as a record of the meeting of the sectoral sub-committees of the Joint Commission on Senegalo-Gambian Cooperation and its contents are advisory and therefore non-binding. Jammeh is upset at the fact that he could not turn the Meeting into yet another celebration with lavish dinner parties and photo ops as means of emerging from his diplomatic isolation.
The relation between the two countries has been on a downward slop ever since The Gambia took the unilateral decision, in August 2005, to increase ferry tariffs at the TransGambia crossing without discussing the matter with Senegal, as required under existing protocols which resulted in the border restrictions imposed by Senegal. It is a commonly held view that the appointment of Sidi Sanneh as Ambassador to Senegal in October 2005 was precisely to help resolve the seemingly intractable border problem which was beginning to cause untold economic misery to the citizens of both countries. Goods transiting or originating in Senegal where being delayed or refused entry at the border and passenger traffic came to a grinding halt due to strike action by Senegalese transport union.
Between August 2005 and February 2006, there has been a significant diplomatic activity leading to a series of meetings at both the Commission and sub-Committee levels of the Joint Ministerial Consultative process at alternative venues in Banjul and Dakar. The Commission's Meeting in Banjul from 28-29 December 2005, in which Ambassador Sanneh played a critical role, is considered a watershed in Senegalo - Gambian relations even though the outcome of the Meeting was not widely publicized in The Gambia. The reason being the bold decision of the Commission to build of the Trans-Gambia Bridge Project which is widely seen in The Gambia as a potential infringement on its sovereignty by ceding an important trump card in our relations with our bigger and wealthier neighbour. Being a project strongly supported by Senegal from the heydays of OMVG, the regional integration organization initially established by the two countries but later expanded to include Guinea-Bissau and Guinea Conakry, the bridge project was viewed with suspicion by The Gambia for the reasons cited earlier. The proponents of regional integration, on the other hand, were elated at the prospect of a Trans-Gambia Bridge contributing to regional economic development of the OMVG region and beyond. Proponents and opponents of the Trans-Gambia bridge project agreed on one thing: Yahya Jammeh was under tremendous pressure from President Abdoulaye Wade and Jammeh had to give up something in exchange for relaxation of the economic stranglehold that was being exerted by Wade through a favorite surrogate enforcer - Senegal Transport Union.
What followed was something that the Gambian people where not informed of and which needs to be revealed. At the December Meeting of the Commission held in Banjul in December of 2005, which was co-presided by Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy and former Senegalese Prime Minister Macky Sall and included at least 12 Senegalese Ministers and other high-ranking officials and experts, the Commission agreed to the building of the Trans-Gambia Bridge Project.
Yahya Jammeh endorsed the decision prior to having it officially communicated in the Joint Communiqué signed by the Vice President of The Gambia and the Prime Minister of Senegal on 29th December 2005.
Apart from agreeing to the construction of the Bridge, the Commission also agreed that the ownership and management of the bridge, 'should be in conformity with OMVG procedures and practices, as applied to other OMVG Projects like Sambangalou and Keleta Dams in Senegal and the Republic of Guinea respectively.' The OMVG was designated as the executing agency and thus authorized to be responsible for mobilizing resources for the construction of the bridge.
Interestingly, regarding the ferry tariff increases, which caused the border and ensuing economic and diplomatic fallout, was resolved by admission from the Gambian side that allowing the increases to take effect is in direct contravention of existing protocols and they promised that reasonable notice would be given whenever future decision relating to tariff was taken.
The December Meeting of the Commission saw the confirmation of the re-establishment of the Senegalo-Gambian Permanent Secretariat to be headquartered in Banjul and headed by a Senegalese Executive Secretary with a Gambian Deputy Executive Secretary. The meeting also decided that the budget of the Secretariat should be concluded by March of 2006 and that the staff of the Secretariat should be identified and appointed by June 2006 and be operational by 1st of July, 2006. As the Gambian Foreign Minister confirmed in his opening statement, nothing was done in implementing these and a series of other measures taken at the level of the Commission.
Matters relating to economic and trade were also discussed and agreed upon and outstanding matter identified as requiring further discussion including the Senegal-Gambia Juxtaposed Customs Offices, Trade Observatory and documentation of both Transit and Re-Export Trade.
Meeting of the Sub-Committees on Judiciary and Defense and Security were to meet in subsequent meeting venues to discuss pending matters.
It is however not difficult to see why after such significant progress on the diplomatic front that relations between the two countries began to deteriorate at an alarming rate which is a cause for concern. Soon after the meeting of the Sub-Committee on Re-establishment of the Senegalo-Gambian Secretariat in February 2006 which recommended that the budget be split 2/3 : 1/3 between the two states, Yahya Jammeh announced in March a failed coup d'etat that was planned to oust him with the support of Senegal. In fact, the Senegalese High Commissioner in Banjul was implicated in the failed coup which led to his withdrawal and subsequent retirement from the Senegal diplomatic service. Prior to the March failed coup, in February 2006, on the eve of the 18 February 2006 Independence celebration, Sidi Sanneh was dismissed as High Commissioner of Senegal.
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Sidi M. Sanne & Foreign Sect. Grey-Johnson
No reason was advanced for his dismissal although several theories have been advanced since his dismissal. Perhaps, the former Ambassador and Foreign Minister, who is said to have good rapport with the high echelon of the Senegalese government, will break his silence and shed light in the deteriorating state of relations with Senegal. We hope so!
The March failed coup certainly has had a devastating impact on both the diplomatic and security fronts but the subsequent handling of Gambia's foreign policy, including but not limited to, the constant accusations by Yahya Jammeh of Senegal's conscious efforts at destabilizing The Gambia which culminated in the editorial in the pro-government Daily Observer. Dakar did not take kindly the Editorial, which set the tone for the current Senegalese intransigence.
The role that Yahya Jammeh personally and continually plays in the Casamance crisis has been another reason for Senegal's mistrust of the Gambian Dictator. The ongoing trial of 9 MFDC rebels in Banjul is regarded by Dakar as a show case trial designed to coincide with the Ministerial Joint Commission. Some even regard the affair as a pre-arranged detention and trial with some elements of the rebel group allowing themselves to be used by Yahya Jammeh to score political points against President Wade. Instead, Yahya has scored an own goal as a result of his obvious meddling in the Casamance crisis. He is increasingly seen in the Diplomatic Community as a destabilizing force in the sub-region, which can only spell trouble for the Dictator.
Senegal, on the other hand, and more specifically President Wade, has domestic problems of his own which is threatening his own political survival. Faced with rising inflation (last week's increases in the price of bread and cooking oil) coupled with potentially devastating political turmoil brought on by President Wade's decision to encourage his son to project himself into the race to succeed him, Senegal has more pressing matters to attend to and therefore, cannot afford to allow key Ministers to spend two days in Banjul 'chasing shadows' as a Senegalese official intimated to this writer moments ago.
In the main, the failure of the Joint Ministerial Meeting is due to the fact that Senegal has finally decided that Yahya Jammeh is not someone to do business with. The strategy of Senegal appears to be to engage Yahya sufficiently to allow time to resolve its own internal problems brought on by their own aging President. In fact, as I pen these words, President Wade is announcing a reduction in the salaries of public servants, including his own and those of his Ministers in an effort to stem the tide of rising criticism from not only the opposition but from farmers and ordinary people who are very unhappy with the recent increases in the price of basic commodities rendering them poorer in the midst of opulent living standards of public servants including parliamentarians. At least, President Wade listens to public opinion. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Yahya Jammeh.