By: Nyima Sillah
After several unsuccessful appeals to the Gambian authorities to facilitate the release of Gambian nationals from detention in Senegal, the FoniBintang Karanai lawmaker Bakary K. Badgie has called on the government of Basirou Diomaye Faye to prioritize the issue of the detainees.
Gambian nationals Basirou Colley and Mustapha Colley were arrested by the Senegalese military in December of last year and were still held under custody at the time of writing this story.
“We are appealing to the new government of Senegal to look into cases of people, who were captured by the Senegalese soldiers at the borderline, and within the Cassamace region. We promise to give them our support and loyalty at any time,” NAM Badgie told The Voice.
It would be recalled that Gambian nationals KeluntungSanyang known as Kangon and Musa Sanyang, who were under the custody of Senegalese soldiers for months, were released a few weeks after President Diomaye took office.
NAM Badjie explained that the whereabouts of BasiruColley and Mustapha Colley were unknown to their worried families, expressing the confidence and hope that the new government will effect a radical change at the Gambia/Casamance border, especially when it comes to the arrests of Gambians by the Senegalese soldiers.
Meanwhile, Musa Sanyang explained that when he returned to his farm from the Senegalese detention, he discovered that a huge quantity of his groundnuts had perished. This, he lamented, represented a huge loss to him and his family as they were dependent on groundnut cultivation as a source of food and income.
“I suffered in prison due to my old age. I was confined to one place. My suffering started from the moment they arrested me on the farm. They did not torture me but I suffered because I am old and my health condition was unstable,” narrated Mr. Sanyang.
He expressed the belief that the new government in Senegal would open a new page in the Senegalese military/Gambian civil relations.
“The people in my area have the belief that the new Senegalese government will effect a paradigm shift in our relations with soldiers at the border so that things could return to normal,” stated Sanyang
