Senegal-Gambia: Customs agreement allows resumption of road traffic between the two countries

Traffic has resumed Thursday on the Trans-Gambian route, which connects Senegal’s north and south through The Gambia. Truck drivers from Senegal have stopped using the road to demonstrate against the latest customs policies implemented by the Gambian Government. A settlement was reached following a meeting on Wednesday August 14 between the ministers of Trade and Transportation of the two Nations.

In the towns of Senoba and Keur Ayib, on the Senegalese side of the Gambia border, hundreds of heavy freight vehicles had been immobilized for ten days.

However, Gora Khoura, Secretary General of l’Union des Routiers du Sénégal, asked the drivers to resume their journey after he got, he said, adequate assurances from the government. “I got 95% of what I demanded…and that’s what prompted me to call off the strike,” he said.

Banjul made a U-turn on the introduction of customs markings, among other decisions, including a 16,000 CFA franc fee for each truck. Senegal is about to enforce a law passed a few weeks ago, but it will no longer apply to all products.

“The products that should have been tagged and those that aren’t need to be listed. In order to avoid being duped, we must post this on the board so that we can determine the CFA franc equivalent of the sum in dalasi, the local currency of the Gambia.

“We refused since the requested CFA is twice as much as what the Gambian pays. However, the authorities came up with a fix. We may now receive payment in CFA and dalasi. We answer “yes” since even if we pay in CFA, it will be equal to the cost of the dalasi.

The validity time for passavants—documents allowing the duty-free movement of goods subject to specific taxes—granted to Gambians would be increased from 10 to 30 days, without any increase in cost, according to Senegal’s Minister of Transportation, Malick Ndiaye. By taking these steps, we hope to strengthen the important road connection between the two nations.