APA-Banjul (The Gambia) Officials in Gambia’s capital say relations between Banjul and Dakar could not have been cozier as Senegal’s new President Bassirou Diomaye Faye touched down at the Banjul International Airport on Saturday.
President Faye on a daylong official visit to The Gambia was received at the foot of his plane by his Gambian counterpart Adama Barrow who claimed that the bond of kinship between the two countries can only grow from strength to strength.
Media commentators of the event have not been short of positive adjectives to describe current relations Banjul enjoys with Dakar which date back seven years.
Both countries’ official media described the ”ties of Senegambian kinship as warmer than ever before”, a fact gleaned from President Faye’s decision to visit The Gambia second only after Mauritania where he began his much heralded West Africa tour last Thursday.
”Senegambian blood is thicker than water because no two countries share much more in common than Senegal and The Gambia” one radio commentator claimed as President Faye and Barrow exchanged warm greetings shortly after the former deplaned in Banjul on Saturday morning.
Faye’s Nouakchott and Banjul visits are part of a whistle-stop tour of Senegal’s West African neighbours to improve diplomatic ties with members of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).
Trips to Guinea-Bissau, Guinea (Conakry) and Mali are also lined up for Mr Faye’s who has the distinction of being the continent’s youngest elected head of state at 44 years of age.
Gambian president Barrow was among several West African leaders who were in Dakar to show regional solidarity during Faye’s inauguration earlier this month after winning the March 24th presidential elections.
Ties between Banjul and Dakar had improved remarkably since President Barrow’s ascent to power in 2017 following years of topsy-turvy relations under his predecessor Yahya Jammeh which led to several border blockades that affected cross border trades.
President Diomaye Faye’s immediate predecessor Macky Sall had played a pivotal role in West African regional efforts led by Nigeria for Barrow’s investiture as Gambian president after Jammeh had rejected the outcome of the 2016 election despite initially acknowledging defeat.
Relations between former President Sall and Jammeh had degenerated to an all-time low in Senegal-Gambia rapproachment the highest point of which culiminated in a confederation from 1982 to 1989.
Francophone Senegal surrounds anglophone Gambia on all sides except for an 80km Atlantic coastline.
Several issues on the agenda of Faye’s brief sojourn in Banjul are a review of the fate of Senegal’s peacekeeping contingent under ECOMIG, security, cross border trade and fisheries collaboration.
A presidential council initiated by Presidents Sall and Barrow could provide the outlines for Diomaye Faye’s engagement with his Gambian counterpart during his tenure.
According to a joint communique, both leader agreed to hold the next President Council meeting in Dakar and vowed to strengthen ties beyond their current levels.
WN/as/APA