Senegal and Gambia agreed on Friday to end a border dispute over transport which had disrupted regional West African trade since August, Reuters reported. Senegal, which surrounds its tiny, finger-shaped West African neighbour, had stopped trucks from crossing the border after the Gambia Ports Authority imposed a sharp increase in ferry tariffs across the Gambia river two months ago. Gambia earlier this month announced a ferry tariff cut and the border was briefly re-opened, but transport routes through Gambia had remained blocked. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and his Gambian counterpart Yahya Jammeh met in Dakar on Friday and announced they had agreed a definitive solution to the dispute. "The Gambian president has decided to immediately suspend the new ferry tariffs (set in August), which will go back to their previous level," a joint communique said. The presidents added that the Senegalese-Gambian borders would fully re-open on Saturday and said they would go ahead with plans to build a bridge over the Gambia river. The Economic Community of West African States would take charge of the construction project and seek financing for it, the statement said. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also chairman of the African Union, took part in the talks in Dakar. The transport blockade had deprived Gambians of building materials, fruit and vegetables, and hampered trade and transport links with Senegal's southern neighbours, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Aside from tourism, its economic staple, Gambia is heavily reliant on the transport of goods between its main port and capital Banjul and neighbouring countries.
