Residents of the coastal town of Gunjur and neighbouring Berending 15km from Banjul have clashed in recent days after a dispute over land degenerated into armed violence.
Devoid of actual violence, the two communities have been locked in a protracted feud over the ownership of a land for many years.
The dispute took a violent turn on Saturday when a Gunjur resident identified as Buba Jammeh was shot dead ostensibly by natives of the adjacent town of Berending.
Both sides resorted to machetes and cutlasses, witnesses said.
A band of anti-riot personnel from the national police drafted in to deal with the riotous scenes was reportedly attacked and pelted with stones by livid Gunjur residents determined to avenge Jammeh’s death.
President Adama Barrow has since weighed in on the crisis, urging restraint from both sides.
A statement issued by his office on Sunday, described the spate of violence as deeply disturbing and exhorted both communities to allow local authorities to adjudicate on the matter.
President Barrow reminded the protagonists to the dispute that his government has instituted a land commission to which all matters relating to land issues should be addressed.
Over the past two years, the demand for land especially in urban and peri-urban Gambia has quadrupled, driven by real estate agents.
The proliferation of estate agencies has heightened the competition for land in some of the choicest parts of the urban area, reigniting old feuds and raising the possibility of new ones between and among communities.