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Senegal has closed its borders to vehicular traffic effective immediately. This action, unexpected in many quarters, is coming at the heels of recent vitriolic statements by the Gambian dictator directed at Senegal's two former presidents and the current sitting president.
According to our source, "the Senegalese are not allowing Gambian vehicles into Senegal." When I asked the source whether all the border posts are affected, he responded in the affirmative and said that Gambian registered vehicles are not being allowed to cross at the Karang border post.
The personal attacks directed at the sitting president, Macky Sall, by Yaya Jammeh was met by ferocious response from the Office of the Senegalese President and from various social commentator and opinion leaders in Senegal, including President Sall's political party.
Speaking on FatuRadio earlier in the day, we opined that Senegal will be more inclined to take drastic political and diplomatic measures against a neighbor they now consider to be more than just a nuisance. The first and immediate casualty of the border closure is the traveling public who will be greatly inconvenienced.
Senegal's swift and stern reaction to Jammeh's tirade suggest that the government's patience has finally run out marking the end of a policy of benign neglect and containment of what they regard, up to this point, as a nuisance. And as long as Senegal's national security was not threatened, the policy would have stayed in place. It now appears that the relations between the two countries have entered a new phase.
Developing story .....
