By Sanna Camara

When Gambia and Senegal attempted a confederation following a 1981 rebel coup attempt that left tens of casualties on both Gambian and Senegalese sides, commentators argue that it was short-lived due to unfavourable terms for The Gambia.

The Gambia, Senegal and Cassamance comprised various people and diverse cultures, yet built around three distinct rivers: Gambia, Senegal and Cassamace. What turned out to be the landmass of Senegal of today was a colonial demarcation from the 1886 Berlin Conference, when France and Britain made a compromise deal for peace, especially around the crucial River Gambia.

Demba fatty, a Gambian historian traced the history of the term Senegambia to be officially used for the first time in 1765, when colonial powers made arrangements to tie Banjul and Dakar as one, but failed to achieve its objectives.

Multiple wars for control of the Banjul, Goree islands, along with other crucial land and water areas had defined the military and foreign relations between Portugal, France and Britain in those centuries. It was in this context that the Senegambia concept was born as an experiment.,

While the 1981 Confederation was a more popular one and closest in history, Fatty said most Gambians will be surprised that its model gave very little to none to The Gambia in such an arrangement.

“Gambia had almost zero influence in the set up,” he said. In the said composition of the Secretariat:

The secretariat was headquartered in Dakar. When staff appointments were finally announced, a Senegalese was appointed the secretary general.

“This flew in the face of the tradition, which provided that a country could not host the head office and at the same time, provide the secretary general,” Fatty said. “The deputy secretary general was Senegalese and so were four of the five department heads,” he explained.

Two directors, Gambian and Senegalese, headed the economic and technical affairs and social and cultural affairs, respectively. “Senegalese headed all the research, press, legal and documentation centers. The only department headed by a Gambian was the translation and interpretation department,” the historian uncovered in his finding.

Furthermore, Senegal retained the Presidency of the Confederation without a rotation and also the command of the Confederal Army without a rotation.

It was believed that The Gambia was blackmailed into signing the MoU in Dakar, which came into force in 1982, establishing the confederation. By 1984, it was already found to be unworkable for The Gambia.

Even more, many Gambian and Senegalese did not understand that the term was not local but “a colonial experiment around 1765.”

Fatty went on: The Colony of Senegambia was limited to Goree and James Islands only. It collapsed in 1783, but the name lived on.

The Governor was in Goree, and the Lieutenant Governor was at James Island. According to the historian, the two colonial administrators did not see eye to eye, resulting in the imprisonment of the Lieutenant Governor Joseph Wall by Governor MacNamara for an extended period.

“Commissions were set up and the Governor lost his job. It was a messy experiment. Excessive use of power [were discovere], imprisonment without due process, embezzlement, and so on…,” the historian said.

“Unfortunately, many still think of Senegambia as a local identity,” Fatty added.

He described it as an experiment to colonise, rather than a recognition of the bonds Gambia and Senegal share as a people, which was not recognised when the concept of Senegambia was being toyed with.