As a meeting between friends and partners, a number of foreign policy issues and orientations were discussed. The Honourable Minister took the opportunity to inform the delegation about how the EU had been very supportive to the country during the transition. Dr. Tangara also lamented the issue of deportations and how it was always a critical issue with our foreign partners. The Minister further highlighted the serious challenges and difficulties that the Government faces with a surge in the number of deportations and deportees. Minister Tangara spoke of the need for greater international cooperation in terms of working together for more sensitisation regarding the migration crisis. According to Minister Tangara, deportation is not the solution. On the Russia-Ukraine war, the Minister expressed The Gambia’s condemnation of the aggression as being the right thing to do under the circumstances and that Ukraine needed all the help they could get. He called for political dialogue and a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
On the state of play regarding the relationship between The Gambia and Senegal, Minister Tangara’s response was that the relationship was excellent. He informed the delegation that there was no truth to claims that Senegal wanted to dominate its relations with The Gambia. He said that if Senegal and The Gambia could not get along, there was no hope for African unity as the two countries have almost everything in common. As to the concern of our partners regarding the presence or influence of the Wagner Group and other maligned forces within the Sahel, the Minister informed the delegation that it is not happening in The Gambia as far as the Government is aware.
In their turn, the EU delegation expressed their concern about their failed engagement regarding political developments in Mali and asked the Minister for his advice on the way forward. In response, the Minister underscored the need to really listen; that they are dealing with a new generation of leaders and that it was imperative to look out for Mali. He posited that the French retreat from Mali was a regrettable incident given that if they had not intervened in the first instance, the Jihadists would have taken over.
Another concern of the delegation was free access to education as regards to girls. The Minister assured them that indeed there was free access to education for girls. The real problem is one of mentality regarding investments in the education of the girl child being regarded as a waste. This mentality, however, is slowly changing. Dr. Tangara talked about how women have been at the center of change in this country and by way of example women served as Vice Presidents and Attorney-Generals, and girls in general today tend to perform better in school than boys.
Regarding the possibility of West African countries forming a tighter coalition to fight negative forces and radical thoughts in general, the minister stated he believes that development is the best security. He talked about the importance of multilateralism and gave the example of how The Gambia was assisted by the EU, ECOWAS and other multilateral institutions during the impasse to bring peace and democracy. The meeting also reviewed a number of issues regarding EU-Gambia relations, development assistance, the Sahel and West Africa and other international developments by emphasising the need for mutual support and coordination of positions in international fora.
Finally, the delegation wanted to learn from the Minister how Europe could change their approach for better development cooperation. They expressed the fact that development aid has failed for the last fifty years.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the minister reiterated the need to learn to listen, change approaches and getting the concerned people more involved. He concluded by stating that an approach built on assuming that one knows what a people need better than they do was a strategy that would never work.
