HOW IS THE CURRENT BORDER DISPUTE BETWEEN GAMBIA AND SENEGAL TO BE MANAGED AND RESOLVED?

This question was posed to Halifa Sallah, and he answered as follows:

Relations between countries are based on three pillars, due to the fact that each country has a state and people.

Hence, there is a state-to-state relation, a state-to-people relation and a people-to-people relation. There is also state-against-state conflict, state-against-people conflict and people-against-people conflict.

We have been made to believe by the governments of The Gambia and Senegal that there is a healthy state-to-state relation between the two governments. They have established a Senegalo-Gambian Secretariat with Senegalese and Gambian counterparts exercising direction and control over its affairs. There are Senegalese and Gambian High Commissions in the respective countries. High-level meetings up to the presidential level have recently taken place with strong promises of deepening fraternal ties between the members of the two governments. Hence, there was no sign of state-against-state conflict prior to the incident on the border near Bulock.

Secondly, there are many Gambians engaged in business or investing in Senegal and many Senegalese investors in The Gambia. Complaints of restrictions on persons, goods and services have not been extraordinary to justify any allegation that either government is deliberately targeting the people of either country for harassment and other violations of rights based on nationality. The Gambian authorities are welcomed in Senegal by the Senegalese people, and the Senegalese authorities are also welcomed by the Gambian people. There does not appear to have been any people-to-people conflict on both sides of the border before the conflict.

Thirdly, the Senegalese and Gambian people are acting in their marital, religious, economic, social and cultural activities, and there was no sign of a people-against-people conflict before the bullock incident.

Hence, good neighbourliness has characterised the relation between Senegal and The Gambia, which started to be eroded on 16th July, 2026, which should be marked in the historical calendar as a dark day in Senegalo-Gambian relations that should be nipped in the bud and should never be given the possibility of recurrence.

What should be done is simple and clear. The Gambia Government should not be defensive by condemning the act, and the Senegalese government should also not be defensive by justifying the act. What both governments should do is to sit and discuss and issue joint declarations that would serve the interest of the two peoples and merit any claim of being good neighbours. Good neighbours always try to settle their disputes in a peaceful atmosphere. They are always guided by knowledge, ethics and rules in their discussions to find solutions to disputes.

The challenges of the border are handed over to the Senegalese and Gambian governments by the colonialists, who separated families with blood ties and made them French and British and gave them colonial mentalities when they operate at the state level and left them with their traditional mentalities when they interact in their religious and other social gatherings.

Hence, the border exists only when the state is present but disappears when the state is absent. None of the states had ever tried to police the border or even define it for over 61 years. The border issue is older than the Presidents of Gambia and Senegal.

Hence, their duty is not to police what is not demarcated. That is putting the cart before the horse. No authority can earn respect by such an approach. Before policing the border, it must first be defined, and the state and people of both countries must be well sensitised to know the demarcation so that any encroachment would be seen as a willful violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the other state. It goes without saying that if a solution is to be found, the two governments are duty-bound to take two actions that must be connected with, dependent on and determined by each other.

The first action is to establish the status quo at the border at this very moment. Hence, the technical expertise must be mobilised by both governments and a joint technical committee established to carry out joint monitoring of every stretch of the border and report to the governments on the status quo. During the visit, they should register the intention of the two governments to sit down and apply the principle of Uti possidetis guris to demarcate the border. This principle holds that the borders established by the colonisers shall continue to serve as the borders of independent African states.

Hence, the two governments should go back to the agreements made by the British and French in determining the border and come to a final conclusion on the border. Hence if the presidents of Senegal and The Gambia want to earn the respect of the people of the two countries and the African people at large. They would guide our peace-loving people on a peaceful path to demarcate the border that should, in fact, in the long run be eradicated to unify the countries. Hence, blood must not be shed for the sake of division. We should unite as one to make the whole continent the homeland of the African people. Notwithstanding, I will be taking certain initiatives on the matter, as soon as possible, to promote better relations between our two states and peoples.

The blood of every Gambian and Senegalese is a sacred sovereign blood and must never be spilt and bring mayhem between the two peoples. The mayhem in the Middle East is confirmation that militarism only leads to the law of the jungle and should not be relied on by civilised humanity to resolve disputes between sovereign and dignified people.

That is the verdict of truth and common sense, and it is incontrovertible.