Fanding Sima, a timber dealer, said, his lorry loaded with woods was confiscated and reduced to ashes by the Senegalese security forces in Casamance about two week ago. 

The incident, according to the victim, happened on the 20th December 2020 in a village called Touma, where armed Senegalese ran after his driver and other workers.  He said his people were frightened of guns thus they eventually abandoned the truck there and ran away.

When the furious securities could not get hold of them, they decided to burn his truck. Sima said he has been in the timber business for over a decade but never cut down a single tree in Casamance. “All we do is buy from our counterpart dealers who sell logs to us,” He narrated.

He confirmed that he has reported the matter to the authorities but doubt they will take the investigation further. “Senegalese soldiers continue to chase us both from their country and in The Gambia, take our timber from us and take it to Senegal even if our documentation says we got the timber in our own country. We regularly complain to our Gambian authorities but they have never been able to stop it. That is why I did not lodge the burning of my truck to anyone,” Mr. Sima Lamented.

The disgruntled timber dealer alleged that every time they (Gambia timber dealers) managed to bring wood into the country, the custom officers would demand they pay their duties but will never help them when Senegalese clutch their wood even if it happens in The Gambia. “So many times, Senegalese soldiers would collect our timber from us in Brikama or Bwiam and return it to Senegal. We feel betrayed by our government in all aspects,” he wailed.

 

By: Fatoumatta Samateh