By Omar Bah
Gambia’s Special Prosecutor Martin Hackett recently met Senegal’s Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Me Moussa Sarr, in Dakar to push for stronger judicial cooperation between Banjul and Dakar.
The meeting, held at the Ministry of Justice in Dakar, also included the Gambian Justice Ministry’s Special Legal Adviser Mariama Singhateh and senior Senegalese officials in charge of legal and criminal affairs.
At the centre of talks was how to convert existing conventions into operational cooperation — sharing of expertise on court organisation and case management, and creating direct working channels between magistrates of the two countries.
According to officials present, the Gambian side commended Senegal’s expertise in judicial administration while calling for more structured experience-sharing frameworks between magistrates.
The meeting builds on an already dense legal framework.
Dakar and Banjul rely on a Mutual Legal Assistance Convention in criminal matters signed on 12 March 2020 in Dakar, with a ratification bill examined by Senegal’s National Assembly under No. 12/2026, covering tax, customs and foreign-exchange offences.
A separate Convention on Consular Assistance and Transfer of Sentenced Persons concluded in March 2018 also underpins management of cross-border cases and treatment of each other’s nationals.
For regional practitioners, this expansion of bilateral instruments responds to a blunt reality: Ecowas-level mechanisms alone are no longer sufficient to handle rising transnational criminality — terrorism, money laundering and trafficking.
The Gambian delegation’s visit comes as Senegal puts judicial reform at the centre of its agenda.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye in April 2026 described strengthening judicial independence as an “absolute priority” as part of broader state reform.
That political will is matched by operational modernisation.
On 10 September 2026, Dakar launched two digital platforms to modernise case management and judiciary-citizen interface, including the “E-Justice” solution for dematerialisation of files.
For partners like The Gambia, these reforms improve Senegal’s capacity to respond to mutual legal assistance requests, track letters rogatory and ensure traceability of sensitive cases — one of the main weaknesses flagged in West Africa judicial cooperation assessments.
The Dakar-Banjul push also feeds directly into preparations for the Ecowas Court of Justice International Conference scheduled in Dakar from 21 to 25 September 2026, for which Minister Sarr has pledged full support.
The conference is expected to gather judges, experts and justice ministry representatives from across the region around “community justice”, offering Dakar and Banjul a platform to translate the 16 September commitments into concrete actions — technical exchanges between magistrates and better alignment with Ecowas mechanisms.