SENEGALESE-GAMBIAN RELATIONS ARE GOOD, BUT IS THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 001789 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W, AF/RSA AND INR/AA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2016 TAGS: PREL PHUM PINS GA SG SUBJECT: SENEGALESE-GAMBIAN RELATIONS ARE GOOD, BUT IS THE GOTG GETTING THE MESSAGE? REF: A. BANJUL 00451 ¶B. BANJUL 00436 Classified By: Ambassador Janice L. Jacobs for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Following his July 22 meeting with Gambian President Yaya Jammeh in Banjul, Prime Minister Macky Sall told the press that Jammeh had agreed to support the Casamance peace process. ¶2. (C) Sall,s trip came shortly after President Abdoulaye Wade,s visit to The Gambia for the African Union summit. Wade recently told the Ambassador that his discussions with Jammeh on the margins of the summit had put relations back on track. Wade said bilateral relations are "good.8 He commented that he refused to accede to Jammeh,s request to deliver Gambian refugees to the GOTG though, offering instead to expel them from Senegal. Wade again insisted that Senegal is not sheltering former Gambian Defense Chief Cham. ¶3. (C) Wade also hinted at a possible Gambian-U.S. misunderstanding, telling the Ambassador that Jammeh seems to think the suspension of The Gambia,s eligibility for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) was somehow related to the financing of the AU summit rather than deterioration in human rights and other eligibility criteria. In fact, Wade was at pains to assure us that Senegal, South Africa and a third African country helped The Gambia to pay for the summit, proudly reporting that Senegal contributed 100 million CFA francs (USD 200,000). JACOBS