Ties With Mauritania

The Daily Observer (Banjul)

Daily Observer

2 June 2011

editorial

As the four-day state visit of the Mauritanian leader reaches its climax, his host, the Gambian leader is indeed right in saying that ties between the two countries is more of a blood relationship. A close look at the relationship between these two countries would reveal that the factors that unite them are far greater than the geographical distance that today separates them.

History reveals that Gambian legend, Kunta Kinteh’s grandfather was a Mauritanian. Apart from this single historical fact, the two countries are bound by a number of factors, religious as well as ethnic. The Africanness we boast of is strongly tied to issues of geography and ethnicity. And these are attributes that bind these two West African nations together.

Historically, Mauritania, like The Gambia, went through the bondage of imperialism. Its people were suppressed and oppressed. The two countries accommodate a substantial number of a handful of ethnic groups, among them the Wollofs and the Fullahs. The two peoples also inter-married. Trade, even if it is informal, is and has always been ongoing between Gambia and Mauritania. Almost all Mauritanians resident in this country are engaged in one kind of business or the other; this serves as a reliable source of foreign exchange for their families back in Mauritania. And in a way this contributes to the economy of The Gambia.

In education, apart from the home-based Gambian Islamic scholars that benefit from the very important Mauritanian Islamic institution located in Bundung, many more Gambians have for some time now been benefiting from training in Islamic affairs in Mauritania. Henceforth, if Africa’s unificMauritania ation through established regional bodies can not be tenable, as it is proving to be, we might as well give it a try by establishing country-to-country links. As a matter of fact, this whole concept of unification seeks to facilitate the livelihood of the citizens of Africa.

So, if we can achieve that goal by forging links with countries that are ready for it, so be it. Perhaps it will accelerate the continental unification process. We tend to underestimate the strength of collaborations between African countries, but there is greater potential in it than we currently get from the marriages of inconvenience with the Western world. Among ourselves there is a lot at stake.

All hail Gambia-Mauritania ties.

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