By Lamin Sanyang
The US Government has still maintained its travel ban on senior Gov’t officials after the country has democratically elected a new administration.
The travel ban was imposed shortly before the last general election on the Yahya Jammeh regime alongside members of his immediate family and senior government officials. Many Gambians particularly the opposition at the time thought the ban was aimed at crippling the dictatorial regime of President Jammeh. The former President was voted out of power in the past presidential elections but it has been more than 100 days since the new administration came to office and the ban is still not lifted.
“The ban has not been lifted yet but we are working hard with the Ambassador to make sure it is lifted,” Mr. Njogou Saer Bah, Permanent Secretary and Head of The Diplomatic Service at Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Permanent Secretary Bah said the travel ban came after a request from the US State Department for the Gambian authorities to provide a list of Gambian citizens who were illegal migrants to the United States. He did not disclosed whether the new administration will comply with the demands made by the State Department. He explained that the travel ban which has equally affected other countries does not stop them from going to the UN Summits and other international forums.
Permanent Secretary Bah described the country’s international relation with The US and other organizations as favorable. He mentioned the good relations The Gambia has with the ECOWAS, African Union, European Union and UN among others. He talked about reintegrating to the Commonwealth which he said has benefitted The Gambia in the past paying rents for the embassy in New York and assisting them with lawyers and judges as well.
“We are a small nation but the way we turned around things in the last elections made us significant in the world,” he asserted.
Permanent Secretary Bah finally informed this medium that the government is very advanced with the issue of The Commonwealth, saying it will be fully integrated before the next summit which would be held later this year. He said the same thing about the International Criminal Court ICC which he said the country has not left because the due process was not followed by the former government. He also disclosed that the country will be hosting the OIC conference in 2019.
“We are on the spotlight right now,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, PS Bah spoke at length about the cordial relationship between The Gambia and Senegal commending the role played by the Senegalese authorities during and after the political impasse.’
