Major Lamin K. Sanyang, the spokesperson of The Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) confirmed the development to The Point.
On Wednesday evening, a video went viral showing Senegalese troops clashing with Gambian civilians in the border village of Sare Omar village, an act that sparked outrage among members of the public.
The High Command of the GAF immediately deployed troops to Sare Omar village with a view to finding out what was happening as it was alleged that the Senegalese troops had illegally entered Gambia.
PRO Sanyang added: “This morning the GAF got information from different sources that Senegalese troops entered Sare Omar village in the LRR and that the villagers and the community come out and asked them to leave.”
“What I can confirm is that we are aware of the development and what we did was to immediately instruct the Commanding Officer of 2nd Infantry Battalion of Farafenni, Colonel Timothy Sanyang to investigate the matter and get back to the high command in Banjul on what exactly happened in Sare Omar village.”
The GAF spokesperson explained: “What Timothy Sanyang immediately did was to send a patrol team to Sare Omar village as soon as possible. I can confirm that the patrol team did go to Sare Omar and we understand that there is a timber landing site in LRR.”
During the course of interaction between the Gambian troops and the communities of Sare Omar village, he said, they got information that Senegalese Armed Forces personnel with three pick-up vehicles and one Armour Personnel Carrier (APC) with about 20 to 30 personnel who were posted in one guard post in Amdalai crossed the border and entered the Gambian territory.”
He said: “The Senegalese soldiers claimed to be on routine patrol around the border and that they were kind of lost and find their way into the village. So that was when the village youth as well as other members of the community asked them to leave and the Senegalese forces agreed and left Sare Omar.”
Sanyang maintained that this has nothing to do with the hot-pursuit agreement that The Gambia had signed with the Senegalese government sometime in 2017.
Extreme poor households within the settlements of Kantora, Sandu and Wulli East Districts have started benefiting from the Nafa – a project that rolls out cash to the poor and seeks to elevate the rural poor households in terms of food security and more.
Press release
The Ministry of Interior (MOI) learns with consternation that Securiport has increased the security fee at the Banjul International Airport (BIA) from D1,000 to D1,200. This increment was done without prior consultation with and authorization from the Ministry of Interior.
Rohey Malick Lawe, the mayoress of Banjul City Council (BCC) has called on the President Adama Barrow- led government to give subventions to the councils as clearly indicated in the Local Government Act.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that debt vulnerabilities remain elevated in Sub-Saharan Africa, with no fewer than 20 countries in the region either at high risk of debt distress or already in debt distress.
