By Yunus S Saliu
EU Ambassador to The Gambia, Attila Lajos has expressed sympathy with the survivors of the December 4th 2019 (D4.19) and their families over the capsized boat where over sixty young Gambians and other nationals met their untimely death on their way to Europe through ‘backaway.’
Speaking at the just concluded Niumi Barra Fort Bullen Festival on Friday, 28th February in Barra town, the ambassador said the tragedy has pushed many people to think of many questions.
According to him “the tragedy pushed many of us to reflect on many questions (which includes) how could this be happening in the new Gambia? Who has been complicit and enabling such tragedy to happen? And most importantly – what needs to be done to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again?”
He disclosed that with EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, the EU is supporting 5 projects for a total of 2.1 billion dalasis (37.9 million Euros).
With the support of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative, he said, “many Gambia men and women have returned home safely from Libya and Niger, and more than 3,000 have received support to reintegrate back into their communities and many efforts have been made to build a clearer understanding of what really happens along the ‘backway’ journey.”
Recently, he went on, the project has provided psycho-social sessions aimed at providing psycho-social support to returnees from the communities of Essau, Barra and Medina Serrign Mass.
Other four projects implementing under the Tekki Fii umbrella are provision of training and employment opportunities for young Gambian men and women. “These projects are being implemented in the North Bank Region. Examples are rebuilding the youth centre in Farafenni, 19 small businesses in NBR received YEP mini-grants and 4 other business benefitted from YEP mini-loans,” he disclosed.
In addition to the above, EU-IOM Joint Initiative implementing partners are supporting agricultural employment in the region, such as in neighboring Buniadu with the construction of garden walls, support to 104 women working in the vegetable garden through agricultural inputs and tools.
Dilating on the Niumi Fort Bullen Festival, he described cultural heritage as an important component of economic development even “more so in The Gambia due to its links with the tourism sector.”
He went further that the Heritage Festival can help to preserve and promote cultural heritage of The Gambia. And it “can certainly support the repositioning of The Gambia on the tourism map, from a winter sun destination to a year-round, diversified destination rich with creative experiences and cultural adventures,” he noted.
The ambassador however affirmed the European Union values of creative industries in The Gambia under its development support, as the EU-funded Youth Empowerment Project has already provided substantial support to different creative sectors of the economy.
This and among others including traditional crafts, cultural heritage such as the Kankurang through the revival of the Janjangbureh Kankurang Festival.