By Mafugi Ceesay
The National Assembly Member for Kantora has complained that the Minister of Defense and other authorities have ignored his letter requesting for action to rescue one of his constituents shot by Senegalese security officers in the village of Pecadousu in Kantora.
The victim, Sulayman Trawalleh was reportedly shot by Senegalese security who chased him to his village in The Gambia alleging that he was engaged in hunting hippos, an endangered species.
Speaking to The Standard on Wednesday, Billay Tunkara said he has seen no action since he communicated his concern to the defense minister about the incident.
“Our defense minister cannot remain indifferent to the shooting of a Gambian on mere allegations of hunting down hippos,” he said.
He said he, alongside the chief of Kantora Bacho Ceesay and Chairman of Council of Elders Alhaji Kibily Jaguraga, visited the victim’s village Pecadousi, where the villagers reported that Senegalese security opened fire in the village before breaking into Sulayman Trawalleh’s house, shooting him twice in the arm.
Trawalleh, he continued, was thereupon thrown into the back of a waiting vehicle and whisked away to Senegal.
The NAM said he now has information that Trawalleh has been moved from a hospital in Tambacounda and that prosecutorial charges were to be proffered against him sometime this month.”I recommended to the defense minister to send some top security officers from the level of the defense ministry to visit the village where the shootings occurred to allay villagers’ fears as well as to advise them on long-term security issues, including clearly defining the common boundary,” he said.
The Kantora NAM stressed that the Senegalese security has no rights to enter The Gambia with their arms unauthorized, let alone to shoot a Gambian in his own country and take him away to Senegal on a mere allegation.
“They should’ve consulted the Gambian authorities to investigate and decide on what to be done but they cannot enter the country and start misbehaving to the citizens,” he postulated. “Our authorities should be consulted to investigate and establish the truth and decide if the accused is guilty or not or if he should be tried in the country or Senegal.”
