Senegambia: Macky Sall’s blunder and Senegal’s descent into familiar political apathy?

By Mathew K Jallow

Will he or will he not? The intensity of the speculations and counter-speculations was not unlike a moviegoer's burning desire to unlock the mystery of “Who Shot J.R.” in the movie, Dallas. In the end, it did not take long before this nagging question was answered. And to say that the answer was distressing to Gambians would be the understatement of the decade. It was like seeing the Gambia's next twenty years history flash right before our eyes; more murders, more executions, more disappearances, more forced exiles, more wealth accumulation and the cruel perpetuation of the tyranny of a family dynasty. The man who, less than a year ago, was widely cast as the embodiment of Jeffersonian democracy in Africa, and a possible catalyst in Gambia's liberation from political tyranny, had suddenly turned into the naive anti-hero. The rage over Senegalese President, Macky Sall's attendance of The Gambia's forty-eight year nationhood anniversary exploded into accusations of receiving funding from Yahya Jammeh, in Senegal's presidential elections last year. But a former Gambian Foreign Minister and diplomat, based in Dakar, Senegal, Dr. Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe, spurned such recriminations as baseless innuendos that are preposterous at best and downright fictional at worst. Notwithstanding, President Macky Sall, is yet to prove his imperviousness to the influence of corrupt money, and Gambians familiar with Yahya Jammeh's predilection to buy loyalty, apathy and indifference, are wary that President Sall may eventually fall victim to Yahya Jammeh's charm offensive and routine financial bribery of those who on moral grounds, reject his tyrannical regime.

The once fairytale cultural and diplomatic intimacy between Gambia and Senegal has, since Yahya Jammeh came to power, descended into the dark depths of political cataclysm, making relations between the two countries prone to the devastation of military conflagration. A case in point, the perennial MFDC rebellion in South Senegal has intensified in recent years with the acquisition of more modern Iranian weaponry, which shifted the conflict to an unprecedented level of carnage and bloodletting. Today, the historical bonds that glued Gambia and Senegal have devolved into chaos as Yahya Jammeh's heavy-handed interference and aggravation of the conflict in South Senegal intensifies. For years, Yahya Jammeh had unbendingly pursued provocation and coercion as a diplomatic tool over Casamance, and both Senegal and Guinea Bissau have been cynically deferential to Yahya Jammeh's irresponsible, if not duplicitous Casamance military campaign. And sensing Abdoulaye Wada's old age and susceptibility to coercion, coupled with the collapse of civil order in neighboring Guinea-Bissau, Yahya Jammeh found a niche to expand his sphere of political influence across the region from Gambia to Guinea Bissau. The case of the MFDC in Casamance, and the seizure of arms bound for Gambia, in Nigeria, two years ago, have added to further complicate the relations between Senegal and Gambia. These, and the recent execution of Senegalese nationals and the murder last week, of Amadou Bah, another Senegalese citizen, combined to cloud President Macky Sall's visit in controversy; perhaps deservedly, perhaps not. The criticism of President Sall, is to many Gambians, characterized as harsh and unforgiving in some quarters, but others see President Macky Sall's cavorting with Yahya Jammeh beneath the dignity of the Senegalese President.

President Macky Sall's Gambia visit strikes Gambians as an alarming and calculated disregard of the Gambian problem; the festering horror of Yahya Jammeh savagery and withering contempt for human life. The Gambia's use as the epicenter of the protracted but devastating Casamance civil strife, and Senegal's failure to contain Yahya Jammeh's willful and dangerous adventure into the depths of disorder and political anarchy, call into question the efficacy of Senegal's tepid approach to Yahya Jammeh's perpetuation of the unceasing Casamance conflict. Moreover, the use of Gambian territory as an MFDC rebel base without the authority of the Gambian law, is a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the Gambian state, and illustrates the utter powerlessness of the Gambia's law-making body to contain the alarming excesses of the Yahya Jammeh military regime. In any way one looks at it, Gambia is now engaged in an act of war against Senegal by providing sanctuary, weapons and recuperative and medical treatment facilities to injured MFDC rebel fighters, and the MFDC organization, but Senegal has yet to reciprocate in equal measure to address the jaw-dropping Yahya Jammeh menace. Additionally, the juxtaposing of the Casamance discord, and the casualness, with which Senegalese citizens were recently executed in Gambia, are overwhelming evidences of Yahya Jammeh's disdain for President Macky Sall and the Senegalese government. Yahya Jammeh social and political bend is informed by a downright divisive ideology of nationalism, but awareness of his deranged tribalism has percolated into the consciousness of Gambians and aroused a deep sense of alarm in a nation long united by a common national identity.

Yahya Jammeh's unorthodox, pedestrian world-view and his knee-jerk, sorcery-driven decision-making, has reduced Gambia to a regional pariah administered by the dark forces and magical powers of witchcraft. For a person so incredibly steeped in primitive idol worship, the banality of Yahya Jammeh's provincial mindset is reinforced by an astonishing indulgence in cannibalism and human sacrifice. True, carrying heft for the Gambian people is an overarching consideration in trying to nudge President Macky Sall into action, yet family relations across our invisible political boundaries also bear testimony to the affinity Gambians and Senegalese have towards each other. As it is, the gravity of Yahya Jammeh's political nuisance needs no embellishment or hyperbole to put in proper context, because Yahya Jammeh's story is written in the blood of citizens and non-citizens alike interred in hallowed gravesites and solemn tombs yet to emerge from the mystery and obscurity of silence. Gambians traumatized by years of ruthlessness read too much into President Macky Sall's every action, often characterizing Senegal as a country deep in denial of the Yahya Jammeh scourge, but Gambian diplomat and former Foreign Minister, Hon. Sidi Moro Sanneh, is forceful in his complete rejection of the unsubstantiated charges against President Macky Sall, citing the lean composition of President Sall's entourage to Gambia as indicative of his displeasure with Yahya Jammeh's military regime. President Sall's relation with Yahya Jammeh, or lack thereof, is scrutinized with revolutionary vigor by many Gambians who see Senegal as the key to resolving the Gambian tyranny and humanitarian crisis. Gambians' strident opposition to Yahya Jammeh is driven by the Duvalierian brutality with which he exercises power and imposes his authority and partnering with neighboring Senegal to restore sanity and the rule of law in Gambia is desirable, if not inevitable. For nowthough, the ball is in President Sall's court to, at the very minimum, ease his opposition to Gambians' use of Senegalese territory to liberate their country, if for anything else, because The Gambia is also being used to destabilize the southSenegal region. For now, whether Senegalese President Macky Sall has blundered into Senegal's familiar political apathy, only time will tell. Gambians sure hope not.

Mathew K Jallow, a Gambian writer, journalist, human rights advocate and political activist, a leading critic of the military regime in Gambia, has been exiled in the US since the military came to power in 1994.

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