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Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

author:The bird flies high and flies thousands of miles in one fell swoop

On the world map, for various reasons, some countries within a state surrounded on three or even four sides have formed: the entire territory of the Vatican and San Marino is surrounded by Italy, and the entire territory of Lesotho is surrounded by South Africa... With a land area of only 11,000 square kilometers, the Gambia is surrounded by the territory of neighboring Senegal in the north, east and south in addition to the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The territory of the Gambia is distributed entirely along the Gambia River: no more than 48 kilometres wide at its widest point, while the length is more than 300 kilometres inland along its banks. The Gambia's territory is shaped like an earthworm, almost cutting Senegal off.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

This small country, whose territory and population are not as large as Beijing's city on the mainland, has single-handedly provoked the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. In 1985, President Jawala of the Gambia, dissatisfied with the assistance provided by the Soviet Union, said in front of the world at the United Nations General Assembly: "The Gambia can leave no living person in the Soviet Union in three days." In 1995, the Gambia threatened to send an expeditionary force across the continent because of its disagreement with European countries over trade. In 2000, Gambian troops broke into the U.S. Embassy while suppressing popular protests.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

The Gambian army not only broke into the U.S. Embassy in The Gambia and shot protesters, but also beat up the Americans who came to negotiate. After the incident, the United States announced sanctions against the Gambia, and the Gambia threatened: "If the United States does not lift the sanctions, then the Gambia will send an expeditionary force to level the North American continent." In 2012, the Gambia was still a so-called "country with diplomatic relations" by the Taiwan authorities. At that time, Gambian President Jammeh went so far as to say: "The Gambia can assist the Taiwan army to complete the full-scale military occupation of Chinese mainland within 24 hours." The Gambia only needs to send 1,000 Marines to completely contain China's actions."

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

Like the Gambia, there is also Libya's Kadazo who offends the P5 in turn, but the grass at Kadazo's grave is now old, but the Gambia has not been retaliated against if the P5 are offended. This is not because The Gambia is so powerful that the P5 are afraid of it. The Gambia's national armed forces, including police and gendarmerie units, number just over 1,000. The Gambian Army is currently equipped with 12 armoured vehicles and a 105mm howitzer. The Gambian Navy has only 70 men and 6 ships. The Gambian Air Force has two men and an older fighter jet, as well as two pesticide-laden agricultural aircraft.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

The Gambia, whose military power is nothing to mention, does not have the political and economic clout of Qatar and Singapore: the Gambia is one of the world's least developed countries recognized by the United Nations. The country has little natural resources to plunder, and as a global least developed country has little wealth to harvest, not to mention that this small and poor country is far from international hotspots such as Europe, North America, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region. The Gambia has little strategic value politically, economically or militarily. Even if such a country can be successfully occupied, it will not be worth the loss.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

In fact, the Gambia is also well aware of its own strength, so it only provokes the P5 with lip service, but it will never dare to do anything substantial and out of line like Libya's Kadazuo. The big countries that have been provoked by the Gambia naturally don't bother to deal with this guy who can only fight with his mouth. If it is understandable that the world's major powers such as the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany are too lazy to deal with the Gambia, has Senegal, a neighbor close to the Gambia, ever fought the idea of the Gambia? The great powers do not fight the Gambia mainly because of the serious mismatch between the cost of the labor expedition and the strategic gains.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

But Senegal will not have a hard time annexing the Gambia on its doorstep. Senegal's military strength of only more than 13,600 people is not very strong, but it is much stronger than the Gambia, which has only more than 1,000 armed forces. Despite its small territory, small population, lack of resources and economic backwardness, the existence of the Gambia geographically divides Senegal into two parts. So Senegal didn't think about annexing the Gambia? In fact, Senegal and The Gambia are like a country in terms of history, culture, ethnicity, religion and so on.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

Historically, both countries have been under the rule of black empires such as Mali and Songhai. Senegal became a French colony during the colonization of Africa by the European powers, while the Gambia became a British colony. After the two sides emerged from colonial rule, two independent states were formed. The British colonists planned the Gambia's development according to their own needs. Since the mid-19th century, the British have gradually established the Gambia as their own peanut cultivation base. The fragile single-crop economy has left the Gambia lagging behind in infrastructure. France, by contrast, built Senegal as a piece of soil.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

On the eve of World War II, Senegal already had railways, banks and higher education, while the Gambia remained economically backward. After Senegal's independence in 1960, Senegal was one of the few countries in Africa that did not experience a coup d'état. After the independence of the Gambia in 1964, there were frequent coups. In 1981, Senegal even sent troops to help quell a coup d'état because it feared that the chaos in The Gambia would affect its stability. After the incident, Gambian President Javara offered to merge the Gambia with Senegal to achieve a warm huddle to cope with the complex international situation.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

In doing so, Jawala actually wants to hug Senegal's thigh: on the one hand, he wants Senegal to support the development of the Gambia, on the other hand, he hopes to use Senegal's power to help him quell the internal coup, and to achieve unity in the complex international situation. On 12 December 1981, the Gambia and Senegal signed the Treaty of Confederation of Senegal. On 1 February 1982, the Senegumbian Confederation was established. The two sides began to gradually unify their military, monetary and economic policies in accordance with previous agreements.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

Although Senegal and the Gambia are similar in history, culture, ethnicity and religion, this similarity does not equal the same in absolute terms. At that time, the Serbs, Croats, Montenegro and other ethnic groups in Yugoslavia also had many similarities in language, religion, culture and other aspects, but they never formed a unified sense of national identity and belonging, which led to their respective ways. The main ethnic group in Senegal is the Wolof and the main ethnic group in The Gambia is the Mandingo. The two peoples are indeed relatively similar in terms of historical economic structure, customs, language and culture.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

But after all, these are still two different peoples. The colonial rule of Britain and France exacerbated the differences between the two sides: Senegal, colonized by France, used French, and Gambia, colonized by Britain, used English. After independence, the two countries were first different in language. After independence, Senegal maintained close diplomatic and economic ties with France and French-speaking African countries: Senegal and 13 other French-speaking African countries uniformly used the French guaranteed, stable and interchangeable CFA franc, while the Gambia had to use its own currency, the dalasi, behind closed doors.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

The absorption of the Gambia by Senegal would mean the expansion of the CFA franc zone. This is not something for Senegal and the Gambia to decide, but needs to be endorsed by France and the 13 French-speaking African countries. There are too many and too complex stakes at stake. If Senegal and the Gambia want to achieve monetary unification, they will have to talk to each of these countries one by one. Senegal and the Gambia can nominally build a confederation, but they cannot achieve economic currency parity and cultural book parity like Qin Shi Huang. This paved the way for the future division and disintegration of the Confederacy.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

After the establishment of the so-called "Senegalese Confederation", the citizens of the two sides did not really identify themselves as "Senegalese", but continued to consider themselves Gambians and Senegalese, respectively. The two sides soon clashed over state ownership. On 30 September 1989, the Gambia withdrew from the Confederacy. Senegal also realizes that it will not be worth the cost if it forcibly retains the Gambia, which is divorced from Germany. Eventually the Confederation dissolved with the acquiescence of both parties. The Gambia remains as volatile and poor as ever after re-independence, while Senegal, which was relatively well-off before, is also experiencing this setback, which has exacerbated internal conflicts.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

After the collapse of the Confederacy, riots occurred frequently in both the Gambia and Senegal. Today, Gambia's GDP per capita is only $400, and Senegal's is only $800. Both countries have been recognized by the United Nations as global least developed countries. Since then, relations between the two countries have been mixed: in May 1991, the two countries signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation. The wealthier Senegal sometimes helps the Gambia. After an attempted coup d'état in The Gambia in late 2014, Senegal sparked tensions between the two countries by hosting the Gambian opposition. In March 2015, the Gambia closed its borders over a tax dispute over its border with Senegal.

Why the Gambia is like an earthworm burrowing into the heart of Senegal?

In December 2016, Gambian opposition leader Adama Barrow, who was taken in by Senegal, became the Gambia's president. Barrow's inauguration took place at the Gambian Embassy in Senegal. The relationship between the two countries ushered in a turning point: in February 2017, Senegalese President Sall attended the inauguration ceremony of President Barrow and the celebration of the 52nd anniversary of the independence of the Gambia as a special guest. In March 2017, the two countries established a strategic partnership and signed cooperation agreements in fisheries, power and other fields. In April 2019, President Barrow travelled to Senegal to attend President Sall's inauguration ceremony and the celebration of the 59th anniversary of Senegal's independence.

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