Gambian president Yahya Jammeh wants to carry out all executions by the end of September. Photograph: Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images |
It is not clear whether the Senegalese ambassador
had already left Banjul.
Sall’s decision followed
Monday’s confirmation of the killing by firing squad of nine death row prisoners
by the Gambia’s Ministry of the Interior.
The Senegalese president had
earlier threatened to expel Gambia’s ambassador Mass Axi Gai in Dakar if he
refuses to attend a meeting he summoned on Tuesday.
The Voice understands the meeting did go ahead.
Senegal today recalled its
Ambassador to the Gambia, in protest against the latter’s execution of two
Senegalese citizens; Kibaaro News quoted reliable sources
within the Gambia’s foreign diplomatic service as saying.
The two Senegalese death row inmates executed by
firing squad on Sunday are Tabara Samba (female) and Gebe Bah (male), according
to a statement from Gambia’s Interior Ministry. They were serving death
sentences for murder.
Kibaaro News quoted unnamed sources to have said “Senegalese
Ambassador to the Gambia, Prof. Signate Diame, had expressed his government’s
disapproval and disappointment at the Gambia’s execution of their two citizens
to the authorities in Banjul on Tuesday, 28 August 2012.”
Another Senegalese, Saliou Niang is among 38 death row
inmates waiting to be executed. Senegal say Gambia should not kill him.
Soured relations
In successive regimes, the Gambia and Senegal, two
countries of the same people, have intermittently enjoyed bitter relations in
the past. The two countries often accuse each other of supporting their
adversaries.
There have been numerous border disputes between the
two, and this latest souring of relations adds up to the status quo.
Both countries pledged to put behind the past and
forge ahead during an official visit to Gambia by president Macky Sall when he
was newly elected.
It was hoped that relations between the sister-countries
would improve but with the executions taking away two lives already, it is
feared that it will also take away with it the “anticipated good relations”
between Gambia and Senegal.
Source: The Voice
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