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Gambia, Senegal cut off from outside world
Monday, 09 August 2010 07:57
Gambians and Senegalese were cut off from the rest of the world for over 24 hours, at the end of last week,
as communications services in either country came to an abrupt halt.In Gambia, while there was no internet connection throughout Thursday, the telephone lines were intact. In neighboring Senegal, however, both inbound and outbound communications were greatly disrupted with internet connections as well as telephone connections going dead, totally impeding the flow of information from and into the country.
There is no immediate evidence to link the development in the two countries. But the situation in Senegal was as a direct effect of a strike by telecommunications workers.
Workers at Sonatel, the national telecommunications provider, are angered by government's plan that will introduce a new operator, Global Voice, which is poised to closely control inbound and outbound communications.
Union members condemn the accompanying rising cost of incoming international calls. Specifically, they are just opposed to the taking over by Global Voice. They say the decision by the government tantamount to the signing of a ‘long-term death’ warrant for the company, a very important element of the Senegalese economy.
The arrangement surrounding the coming of Global Voice to Senegal has been the subject of a persistently heated debate in the Senegalese media.
In an editorial published Friday, Walf - Grand Place, one of three newspapers published by the multimedia group Walfadjri, contested the decision by Sonatel workers to “punish” the ordinary Senegalese. It described the development as “Sabotage of Network.”
“Senegal cut the rest of the world”, headlined what is arguably Senegal’s largest web based news provider, Seneweb. It reported on the same day that Senegalese in the Diaspora where cut off from their families back home for the whole of Thursday.
Despite the failure of prolongation of the strike into the week end, as had been predicted, consumers of telecommunications services in Senegal remain wary of the next move by the union members.
As if to sum up the general feeling, a Dakar based foreign journalist described the situation on their facebook page as: “A time bomb waiting to explode!”
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Comments
If you can link the development, then thats find!! You seem to be a clever guy but unconditional love for Yahya Jammeh will affect you sound judgement and analysis of real life which is definitely a waste and unhealthy for your surroundings.
U see, i remind people time n time again to take their time n read what their eyes are looking at. It seems that message has not gotten to u.
I mentioned that the bulk of Gambia's bandwidth is leased through Senegal, a connection that i belief is linked through the Fiber optic system. However, Gambia has also directly leased extra bandwidth via satellite of former Teleglobe of Canada. This means, if by hook or crude, senegal's system was down, Gambia would only be minutely affected. And this is a Fact.
Proof this wrong since u call yourself a Gamtel insider. I have never worked in Gamtel FYI.
I appreciate your rejoiner. U seem to agree with me on one issue, that the story suggest that 'Gambia is at the mercy of Senegal' This was my main point of contention from get go. I dispute that implication which clearly seem to be what the headline suggest.
Like i said, the story itself is very clear. The only problem is the headline. May be i need to improve my English comprehension. But this headline; "Gambia, Senegal cut off from outside world" I belief u ask some Englishman what this sentence means, they would come to the same conclusion as i did.
And the conclusion from this headline is Gambia n Senegal are both off the air. Ironically, when u read the story, it says, telephones lines were intact in Gambia. I maintain, the headline n the story potray 2 different pictures
When I saw your first comment, this is what I thought: "HOLD IT GUY!!!
U rushed to condemn 2 fast!"
But I have come to realise that your idea of a headline is one that gives the details at first sight. No, it doesn't work like that,pa-Pierre. In that case there wouldn't be any need for the rest of the story then...
If you tell me you do not like the impression the story gives I will agree, whcih is that Gambia is somehow at the mercy of Senegal. Trust me, you can't despise that thought so much as I do.
I appreciate your knowlege of Gambia's communications infrastructure...
However, to say the headline is incorrect is itself incorrect.
U rushed to condemn 2 fast! Take your time to digest b4 u condemn. I repeat, the headline is misleading. We understand from the article that communications was halted in Senegal as a direct result of telecom workers strike. The writer, pairing Senegal n Gambia in the headline, seem to suggest that the strike action in Senegal indirectly affected communication in Gambia. Base on the misleading headline, i tried to inform the public that if communication is down in senegal, Gambia will still be connected to the outside world cus they use different routes to link with outside.
I did not say the article itself is misleading. The headline is grossly misleading. And i stand by that assertion.
Guys, don't be 2 emotional. If u allow your emotions to cloud your judgement, u will always read something completely different from the writer's intended message.
Did you drop you reading glasses again?
I can see that the shock you got from the Tamba and Co. verdict has worn off and you are back defending and excusing Jammeh's tyranny all over the media again.
While majority of the internet Bandwidth used to access the outside world is leased through Senegal, The Gambia telecommunicati on giant, GAMTEL, has leased a back-up system via satellite. Teleglobe Canada was once a our international route. It probably is now. So if Senegal cut Gambia off, the only effect in Gambia is access will be restricted to gov't n institutions. The public may experience a slowed down internet access.
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