2016 IN BRIEF FOREIGN RELATIONS

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By Amie Sanneh

We have been publishing a summary of the stories that we published in 2015. We Addressing villagers at the border village of Tranquilnow sum up stories relating to foreign relations.

DISPUTE ON TRANQUIL BORDER STILL UNRESOLVED

On Wednesday, 7 October 2015, Gambian and Senegalese authorities together with the Senegalo-Gambian Joint Border Commission met at Tranquil, in a bid to finding a lasting solution to the ongoing dispute over which side of the border the village is located. It was announced at the meeting that the process of demarcating the border by the joint border commission would be completed within two weeks. But villagers told this reporter that since the meeting of 7 October, 2015 the technical team had not returned to the village.

Meanwhile armed Gambian troops are stationed in the village of Darsilami, about a kilometre away from Tranquil. On the other hand, some Senegalese troops stationed at Touba in Senegal have moved to Tranquil since 10 November, 2015 and villagers from both Darsilami and Tranquil have expressed concern over the stationing of troops there. They have also expressed concern over the lack of progress in demarcating the border.

There has been a long standing dispute as to which part of the border Tranquil falls.

 GAMBIA EXPELS EU CHARGE D’AFFAIRES

The Chargee d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to The Gambia Agnes Guillaud was Mme Guillaudexpelled from the country on June 5, 2015. The EU Chargee D’Affaires was asked to leave the jurisdiction of the Gambia within 72 hours as from Friday, 5 June, 2015.The release did not indicate any reason for the expulsion.