1982–89 - Senegambia Confederation
Senegal and Mali were granted independence jointly as the Mali Federation; the union broke up less than a year later. In 1982, Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation of Senegambia. The envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out, and the union was dissolved in 1989 when The Gambia withdrew from the confederation.
The Gambia and Senegal grew further apart during the 20th Century resulting in dividing a number of border Kingdoms and settlements. Senegal gained independence from France in 1960 with the Gambia gained internal self-government from Britain in 1963 and complete independence in 1965. At independence attempts were made to reunite the two for fear of Gambia not being a viable state. These were quickly dropped due to lack of support from both sides.
In Senegal, continued economic deterioration, social discontent, and calls for political reform eventually caused Senghor to relinquish the Presidency to his Prime Minister in December 1980. Though students and trade unionists challenged the constitutionality of the transition, Diouf assumed the Presidency in January 1981.
Until a military coup in July 1994, The Gambia was led by President Dawda Kairaba Jawara, who was re-elected five times. The relative stability of the Jawara era was broken first in a violent coup attempt in 1981. The failed coup was led by Kukoi Samba Sanyang, who, on two occasions, had unsuccessfully sought election to parliament. After a week of violence, which left several hundred dead, Jawara, in London when the attack began, appealed to Senegal for help. Senegalese troops came to the aid of the Gambia government in 1981 to put down a coup attempt. They remained as an occupying force, and a Confederation of the two countries was announced.
In the aftermath of the attempted coup, Senegal and The Gambia signed the 1982 Treaty of Confederation. The result, the Senegambia Confederation, aimed eventually to combine the armed forces of the two nations and unify economies and currencies. Since then relations between these countries were in limbo. By the lte 1980s, the Senegalese army was still there, but merged with a newly formed Gambian battalion. Long and difficult negotiations created a largely ceremonial supra-national Senegambia Confederation, coiffing two sovereign countries, neither of which was satisfied with it.
The Senegalese authorities ultimately wanted a unitary state, and pushed for customs union as a transitional phase. They were frustrated by their inability to realize their immediate objectives, 1) to close off Gambian reexport trade to Senegal and 2) to have a bridge on the trans-Gambia highway linking Dakar the two southern provinces of Senegal.
Gambian authorities would like closer cooperation of development planning policies, but vowed never to consent to be swallowed up by Senegal. They were dubious about the value of customs union, especially if it was designed to cut off one of the most important areas of their economy - the reexport trade to the Casamance. They were wiling to explore the options only if the viability of their economy and the natural economic geography of the region were taken into account.
Senegal and The Gambia were, and had historically been, rivals capable of serving a larger regional trade complex, each with a port capable of serving their combined territory, as well as parts of Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania. The structure of economies was similar, but their economic policies in the 1980s were antithetical.
Senegal dominated the region, for its population was 11 times larger than The Gambia's and its GDP 12 times larger. From this position of dominance, it had sought since colonial times to monopolize the trade of the region through a centralized transportation network, mercantilistic control of the economy and a protective network of industrial tariffs. The Gambia found its economic niche in a free trade policy, and lower tariffs.
The collapse of the Senegambian Confederation in August 1989 significantly increased tensions between the two countries. Senegal accused The Gambia of allowing the secessionists to use its territory as a transit point for Libyan and Iraqi weapons, providing a meeting point for representatives of the MFDC, serving as a base from which the military wing of the MFDC could launch its attacks on the Lower Casamance, and serving as a meeting point between Mauritanian officers and members of the MFDC. Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, a Joola who came to power in a military coup d’état in 1994, is believed to have close links with the Joola-dominated MFDC’s Front Nord.
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