DATE=6/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SENEGAL / MAURITANIA (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263295
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=ABIDJAN
CONTENT=
CONTENT:
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A water dispute between Senegal and Mauritania
continues to worsen, with Senegal now calling on all
its citizens to leave Mauritania. V-O-A's John Pitman
reports from our West Africa bureau.
TEXT: Since the water dispute heated up last week,
border stations between Senegal and Mauritania have
seen a steady procession of Mauritanians voluntarily
leaving Senegal and Senegalese leaving Mauritania.
The two governments have now gotten involved in
speeding the two-way flow of traffic.
On Sunday, Mauritania's government set a 15 day
deadline for all Senegalese to leave the country.
Senegal has not set a similar deadline for
Mauritanians living within its borders, but the Dakar
government issued a statement late Wednesday saying it
would help evacuate Senegalese nationals living in
Mauritania.
While the two governments face off over a proposed
Senegalese irrigation plan that would divert extra
water from the Senegal River, ordinary expatriates on
both sides are increasingly worried about falling
victim to a public backlash.
Many of the departing expatriates say they fear a
repeat of a 1989 bloodbath in which hundreds of
Mauritanians and Senegalese were killed when the two
governments clashed over grazing rights along the
river.
The irrigation dispute erupted last week, when the
Mauritanian government criticized a Senegalese plan to
create a new agricultural zone in northern Senegal.
Water from the Senegal River, which forms a natural
boundary between the two countries, would be used to
irrigate the new farmland.
But Mauritania complains the plan would take too much
water from the river and would violate a water-sharing
agreement signed by Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali.
Senegal has denied the Mauritanian charge, adding the
government's current water use policy does not
infringe on the water-sharing deal. Senegal has also
said this irrigation project has been planned for
years, although work on the project was frozen by
former President Abdou Diouf.
/// OPT /// Senegal's new president, Abdoulaye Wade,
is said to support the irrigation plan, but his
government insists it has not made any changes to
the former government's water use policy. /// END
OPT ///
The presidents of Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali are
scheduled to meet this month to discuss the Senegal
River agreement and to try to clear up what the
Senegalese government has called "misunderstandings"
about the irrigation plan. (Signed)
NEB/JP/JWH/KL
08-Jun-2000 12:00 PM EDT (08-Jun-2000 1600 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
