THE GAMBIA: UPDATE ON TENSIONS WITH SENEGAL,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANJUL 000283

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DAKAR PLS PASS ODC, DAO, AND RAO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS PREF SG GA
SUBJECT: THE GAMBIA: UPDATE ON TENSIONS WITH SENEGAL,
CASAMANCE REFUGEES

REF: A. DAKAR 1144

B. BANJUL 258

C. BANJUL 257 AND PREVIOUS (ALL NOTAL)

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH STAFFORD, REASON 1.4 (B AND D)

SUMMARY
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1. (C) An online "journal" reported May 28 the arrest of
Senegal-based Gambian "rebels" entering The Gambia as part of
preparations, with GOS complicity, for a renewed coup
attempt. A knowledgeable source was not able to confirm the
report, but said GOS had angrily denied a recent local media
report of GOS collusion with Gambian dissidents. Meanwhile,
we note reports of an influx of refugees due to violence in
the Casamance. END SUMMARY




REPORTED "REBELS" FROM SENEGAL
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2. (C) We read with interest ref a report of Embassy Dakar's
discussion of Senegalese/Gambian ties with GOS official and
note his acknowledgment of bilateral tensions. Those
tensions were highlighted by a May 28 piece in the
U.S.-based, anti-GOTG online "journal," Freedom Newspaper.
It claimed that GOTG authorities had recently arrested three
Gambian border officials -- two with the National
Intelligence Agency (NIA) and one with customs -- for
dereliction of duty in permitting entry into The Gambia of
"dissident rebels" from Senegal. According to the "journal,"
authorities also picked up the rebels and asserted that they
had been sent here by Senegal-based dissident leaders, among
them the presumed mastermind of the abortive coup plot in
March 2006, then-CHOD Col Ndure Cham.


3. (C) NIA officials were quoted as saying the infiltration
of the rebels was part of preparations by Cham and others, in
collusion with the GOS, for a renewed coup attempt.
Reportedly, the GOTG responded to the infiltration by
clandestinely dispatching NIA agents to Senegal to monitor
dissident activities there. The "journal," describing
President Yahya Jammeh as "very angry" with Senegalese
President Wade over the alleged GOS complicity with
dissidents, said Jammeh planned to submit a protest to the
United Nations over "Dakar's move to welcome dissident
rebels."

SOURCE'S ASSESSMENT
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4. (C) In conversation with Ambassador, a knowledgeable
source said that he could not confirm the accuracy of the
"journal" report, but found it plausible. He agreed that,
notwithstanding Jammeh's recent gesture in pardoning
convicted Senegalese customs officials (ref b),
Senegalese/Gambian tensions remained high. Our source
observed that Dakar was upset that the officials had been
detained and prosecuted to begin with, given the clearly
trumped-up charges. He stated that the GOS had been further
irritated by a May 17 piece in a local pro-GOTG daily
alleging a clandestine meeting in Dakar of Gambian dissidents
with GOS Interior Ministry officials as part of anti-GOTG
plotting (ref c). According to our source, the GOS angrily
denied to the GOTG that there had been any such meeting.
(NOTE: Per ref b, a reported Gambian dissident in the
meeting, former head of the presidential security force,
Kalifa Bajinka, phoned a FSN employee and also denied the
story. END NOTE)

COMMENT
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5. (C) Following Jammeh's pardoning of the convicted
Senegalese customs officers, rumors of an imminent GOS move
to close the border with The Gambia in response to the GOTG's
provocations in past months -- e.g., detention of officers,
meddling in the Casamance -- have subsided. As previously
reported, though, further moves by Jammeh are needed -- e.g.
more helpful posture on the Casamance dossier, reining in his
suspicions of GOS complicity in efforts to destabilize his
government -- to ensure further reduction of tensions. END
COMMENT


BANJUL 00000283 002 OF 002


CASAMANCE VIOLENCE NEAR GAMBIAN BORDER
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6. (SBU) Against the backdrop of heightened
Senegalese/Gambian strains, we note reports in recent weeks
of an upsurge in violence in the Casamance and an attendant
influx of refugees in The Gambia. We note that Voice of
America reported May 31 that 1,000 or more refugees had fled
to The Gambia as a result of the latest clashes among rival
rebel groups in the Casmance. The VOA report is consistent
with that by a local UN security official monitoring the
Casamance situation; he told us that the total number of
Casamance refugees here had increased of late from about
5,000 to 6,000. Our contacts, including, inter alia, local
UNHCR officials and NGO reps working with refugees, report
that the latest incidents of violence in the Casamance have
not spread to Gambian territory and that refugee crossings
into The Gambia have proceeded without incident. .

STAFFORD