By Maimuna Sey-Jawo
Following the clash that occurred between the community of Jahanka village in the Upper Fulladou District of the Central River Region (CRR) and some neighboring border villages of Senegal which resulted in the injury of one Ansumana Drammeh, an officer of The Gambia Fire and Rescue Services (GFRS), the chairman of the Timber Dealers Association of The Gambia, Lamin Barrow, has urged the government of The Gambia and Senegal to look in to Jahanka timber crisis with a view to averting recurrence of such incident.
He was speaking to journalists in an interview at his office in Serekunda. The authorities of the two nations, he added, should take up the responsibility in sensitising their communities about the Jahanka border trading for the betterment of the two countries, saying that the crisis can only be solved with the help and intervention of the two governments.
The problem, Barrow added, is as a result of the wrong information that is given to the heads of states of both nations by their technical teams.
“If the technical team of The Gambia is telling President Barrow that the timbers are sponsored from the rebels and the technical team of Senegal is also saying the same thing to the Senegalese President, then they are adding more fuel to the fire. There
was a time rebels were selling timber to The Gambia but that was six years back but not now,” he said
Barrow explained that Gambians are not going to Senegal to buy timber. “It is the Senegalese who go to their forest and cut their timbers with their machines and transport it to the border where they meet Gambian business men to buy it. After the Gambian business men buy the timbers they will pack it in a strategic location in order to enable them get the necessary documents to transport it to the Greater Banjul Area (GBA).”
The timber dealer’s association chairman said the governments of the two countries need to make best use of the forest for the betterment of our future generation.
