Claim: “The President of the Senegal Transport Union, Gora Khouma, in an interview, has said that the Senegambia Bridge, also called the TransGambia Bridge is part of Senegal, not Gambia.”
Verdict: False. A spatial expert has told DUBAWA that the claim is false because the area covered by the Senegambia bridge is across the River Gambia.
Full Text
In a recent interview, the President of the Senegal Transport Union, Gora Khouma, told reporters that the TransGambia Bridge is part of Senegal’s territory. This comment came after a standoff at the Senegambia Bridge also known as the TransGambia following the introduction of the E-tracking system by the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA).
The 1600-Dalasi tax on each truck crossing Gambia borders created a lot of tension, especially for Senegalese truck drivers most of whom kicked against the policy. The GRA introduced this because it has been noticed that Senegalese trucks were transporting goods to the southern part of Senegal without any customs duty.
“The goods are leaving Senegal and coming into Senegal. This Trans-Gambia, we do not consider it to be part of the Gambian territory. This is because the TransGambia corridor is part of Senegal,” Mr Khouma told reporters.
This is what some had to say on social media:
“Let them get to hell. We are Dalasi Zone, not CFA zone. The GRA Authorities should respect and uphold their integrity. The President should be blamed for bridging the so-called Senegambia Bridge. We Gambians should not tolerate this nonsense. They dominate our country, especially our market. Is enough now.”
Another wrote: “This is the height of disrespect to our sovereign. You using our territory to transport goods to the other side of your country but you can’t acknowledge our sovereign right over the crossing point that falls in Gambia.”
Verification
The TransGambia is a 1.9-kilometre-long bridge in The Gambia that connects the southern and northern parts of The Gambia and connects Senegal to the Southern province of Casamance.
It was inaugurated in Farafenni, the northern border to Senegal in 2019 and renamed Senegambia Bridge. The map shows that the Gambia cuts through Senegal, dividing the country into a northern and southern region along the Gambia river.
The area covered by the TransGambia Bridge is the border crossing that links the Yelli-Tenda and Bamba-Tenda crossing points in the Lower River Region of The Gambia.
Dubawa contacted Hassoum Ceesay, a Gambian historian and writer, who confirmed the claim to be false. “The official name is TransGambia. All the historical records, the recent records, be it of government the visibility studies ever done, call it the TransgGambia because it is across the River Gambia. It’s Gambian territory and it is across the river called the River Gambia which is a sovereign Gambian geographical feature also,” Ceesay told Dubawa.
Conclusion
The claim of Gora Khouma is untrue. The territory covered by the TransGambia bridge is in The Gambia and therefore requires the application of Gambian laws. This fact check concludes that Khouma’s statement is FALSE.
