Travellers pass a police control area im the Senegalese-Gambia border town of Karang in Senegal on May 10, 2016. Senegal and the Gambia have agreed to hold talks on May 15 aimed at ending a three-month border blockade, but the truckers behind the closure are adamant the frontier will stay shut until their demands are met. Senegalese territory entirely surrounds the Gambia, leaving it dependent on cross-border deliveries of fuel and food, but the tiny state raised entry fees from 4,000 CFA ($7) to 400,000 CFA ($700) per truck without warning in early February, infuriating drivers. / AFP PHOTO / SEYLLOU
Following a recent incident near Bullock, both Senegal and Gambia have announced the finalization of a “definitive agreement” aimed at precisely defining their shared border. The two West African nations are preparing to resume joint operations in mid-August to physically demarcate and materialize the frontier on the ground. This initiative will involve the installation of tangible boundary markers and a comprehensive awareness campaign targeting communities residing along the border. This development raises critical questions: What were the underlying causes of the previous tensions? Will this new accord definitively resolve these long-standing issues, or do potential points of friction persist along the border?
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