To many Gambian political observers, the surreptitious changes in Senegal’s cabinet have, once again, stirred the dominant viewpoints that are so emblematic of the Gambians’ recent attitude towards Senegal. The dichotomy of opinions, informed by Senegal’s Gambia position or lack thereof, over the past decade and half, suggests either the spawning of a political hurricane likely to define Senegal’s unambiguous policy towards Gambia, or a whirlwind, which will inadvertently bolster a regime that long ago lost its moral grounding. The absurdity of Senegal’s failure to delineate clear policy objectives toward Gambia since 1994, has compelled wild speculations of uncaring and detachment, punctuated by lulls of optimism over Senegal finally succumbing to the searing agony of the Gambian people. By virtue of geography, every minuscule change in Senegal’s cabinet profile provides a unique opportunity of articulating a blue-print for the future of Senegambian relations, but also of the continuity of the tyranny of a status quo that has devastated the Gambian psyche. President Macky Sall’s appointment of a renowned human-rights activist, anti-corruption campaigner, and Senegal’s former Justice Minister, Ms Aminata Toure, as head of government, could color the future of relations between Gambia and Senegal by ushering in a new paradigm that will alter the strained political chemistry between the sister nations. The new Prime Minister of Senegal boasts a resume that more broadly speaks to the needs of ordinary Senegalese, and is more likely to focus attention to its Gambia neighbor. Moreover, the significance of Prime Minister Toure’s recent appointments of the International Federation of Human Rights (IFHR) former boss, Sidiki Kaba, as Justice Minister; Augustine Tine, as Armed Forces chief, and Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo, as Interior Minister, is not lost on Gambians. If anything, this has heightened Gambian political pundit’s interest in Senegal’s new cabinet and, above all, deepened curiosity about Senegal’s emerging position on Gambia. And as long as the political situation continues to worsen in the Gambia, Ms Aminata Toure’s new cabinet will be the subject of relentless speculations and mindless conjectures among Gambia’s embattled population. Over the past decade and half, Senegal and the Gambia have co-existed in a perilous political storm and under a cloud of suspicion over Gambia’s unapologetic support of Casamance’s decades old low-level armed insurrection. But the Gambia regime’s position on Casamance is not shared by a majority of Gambians, and neither is the regime’s supply of weapons and offer of training bases and recuperative and medical facilities on Gambia territory. The down-ward spiral of Senegal and Gambia relations since 1994 was recently propelled into a crisis situation with the unchallenged execution of Senegalese nationals by a Gambian regime that puts little value human life. Most recently, three Gambian dissidents; Ndure Cham, Saul Ndow and Mahawa Cham, were abducted and returned to face torture and certain death in Gambia, yet, not even with the scandal of breaching Senegalese sovereignty to kidnap and execute Gambian dissidents seemed to matter or arouse protest from Macky Sall’s Senegalese government.
Clearly, President Macky Sall appears totally indifferent to the lives of Gambians dissidents under Senegal’s protection. But that said, Gambia’s belligerence towards Senegal culminated in the supply of sophisticated military weaponry to the Casamance rebels, some of which were apprehended in Nigeria, three years ago. In total, Senegal inaction in Gambia’s destabilization of the region is influenced by a superficial boundary, which ignores Senegal’s influence on Gambia’s politics. By its geography, economic and demographic superiority, Senegal’s indecisiveness on Gambia has been its failure to invest in the Gambia’s long-term democratic agenda, focusing instead, on the short-term accommodate of the Gambian tyranny. But the celebrated linkage with Gambia, rooted in the origins of a significant number of Gambians, does not seem to have permeated persuasively into the mindsets of Senegal’s decision-makers. Consequently, to President Macky Sall and his predecessor, Abdoulaye Wada, the military regime in Gambia may appear benign, but to Gambians, the scars of tyranny are profound and the trauma of emasculation runs deep. For now, President Macky Sall’s policy on Gambia is underpinned by his latent fear of initiating a more broad Senegambia conflict, but this fear spurns the deadly hatred Gambians have for Yahya Jammeh and the Gambian military’s readiness removed him. But now, whether the new government of Prime Minister Aminata Toure will bring attention to the Gambia’s ongoing political crisis, remains to seen. One thing is self-evident, there can never be a deluge of peace in Casamance as long as there is a surge in political turmoil in Gambia. The two are inextricably linked, but where President Sall sees the situation the same way, is another matter.