In Gambia, the number of displaced persons and refugees continues to grow after the start on Sunday March 13 of a large-scale Senegalese military operation in northern Casamance. Since the weekend, many communities have been welcoming people who fled the detonations and gunshots, notably in Bujingha, in the Foni district, on the Gambian side of the border.
With our special correspondent in Bujingha, Milan Berckmans
A few kilometers from Bwiam, in the south of The Gambia, the small village of Bujingha has been welcoming since Saturday March 12 around 100 displaced people from four villages close to the border.
” What are we waiting for ? »
Tuti Jammeh, a young displaced woman from the village of Karrol, is mixing rice in a large pot for most of the people who have fled: Saturday, around 2 o’clock, we saw people from the surrounding villages passing with their belongings near our home. At this time we were preparing the meal. So when we saw them, I told my in-laws : “What are we waiting for ?” “, she says.
In this village, displaced people sleep in a common room, on the floor. But, as Tuti explains, everything is ready to flee, again, if the fighting keeps getting closer : “ That’s why we prepare our meal very early so that we can eat and then wait and prepare. If we hear other noises, different from the others, we’ll do our business and go to another village. »
An unprecedented situation
For the chief of his village, Ismaila Bojang, this situation is unprecedented: “ I have never seen that in the past, under previous governments. The whole country is in disarray. »
According to the Red Cross, which provides logistical assistance on the spot, they are already more than a thousand to have left their village around the border. The organization and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) are helping the Gambian authorities to carry out an assessment of the situation for two days. Thursday, a meeting should take place between all the parties to put in place a strategy to help displaced people and refugees.
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