By Mustapha Jarju
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abdoulie Sanyang and the Chief of Defence Staff of the Gambia Armed Forces (CDS) Lieutenant General Yankuba Drameh have affirmed that the arrest of individuals by the Senegalese security personnel is an agreement aimed at boosting bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The top security chiefs made the revelation at a media briefing on the process of the Security Sector Reform (SSR) last week where they seized the occasion to clear the misconception surrounding the bilateral agreement.
Explaining the agreement, IGP Abdoulie Sanyang said the agreement is binding on the two countries, a truce which he said benefits the two sister countries while taking reference to the recent Farafenni incident.
Sanyang said as far as he is concerned, it is a good agreement between the Gambia and Senegal, because it makes work easy for both countries when it comes to arresting suspects who are running into other countries.
For his part, the Chief of Defence Staff, Yankuba Drameh said, the agreement between the two countries is not one-sided but if the Gambia equally has a strong airtight case to go inside Senegal they have the absolute right to do so.
“Let`s assume when somebody commits havoc that threatens the peace and security of this country it beholds the Arm Forces if that falls in our domain to make necessary arrangements for the individual to be arrested in Senegal if he runs into the Senegalese territory and bring him back to the Gambia,” CDS Drameh explained.
CDS Drameh said he has absolute conviction that the Gambia is found to gain more in this agreement than Senegal.