How about an industrial strength catapult?
Posted on 09/21/2005 9:07:55 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
Senegal may tunnel under Gambia
Senegal's president has suggested building a tunnel under Gambia to link the country's north and south. Gambia - which is a long thin sliver of land surrounded by Senegal - has a stranglehold on the best routes between one part of Senegal and the other.
Relations between the two countries have become increasingly frayed since a row over increased ferry charges erupted in August.
On Tuesday, some Senegalese soldiers were briefly held in Gambia's capital.
The group of soldiers were taking the shortest route between northern Senegal and its southern region, Casamance, which cuts across Gambia - and doing a little shopping on the way.
They were detained in Banjul market, and taken off to answer questions about what Senegalese soldiers were doing in Gambia, armed and in uniform, without permission.
They had crossed by the Banjul ferry, at the mouth of the Gambia River.
The Trans-Gambia Highway, which runs further inland, has effectively been closed to cross-border traffic for over a month by Senegalese transporters protesting against the sudden doubling of charges to cross the river on the small and unreliable ferry.
The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt says that Senegalese hate the power Gambia has over them, and a clearly exasperated President Abdoulaye Wade this week suggested three ways to break the deadlock.
Gambia should build a bridge over the river
Senegal could operate its own ferry
Senegal could even, he suggested, tunnel right under Gambia - which is only about 35km wide.
He pointed out that there are plenty of much longer tunnels in the world, and claimed that China had offered to help build it.
How about an industrial strength catapult?
They should hire some North Koreans for their expertise.
Ah, let them keep duking it out. The Paris-Dakar rally race route does not go that far south.
ah, the joys of African borders. Make so little sense.
That looks almost cartoon-pornographic to me. The graphic below does not. Maybe it's the coloring.
Dang it, will you stop laughing?
I guess they now have a pot to piss in, so they can squander wealth on a tunnel.
I am assuming that Gambia will lay claim to any tunnel built under the nation, and will see fit to dynamite it occasionally.
First two suggestions appear the most cost effective. However, digging underneath with UN aid money is what will occur.
Who's the ad wizard who came up with this one?
I thought it was The Gambia?
Wasn't the funding for this included in the Transportation Bill?
Don't forget the ethnic angle. The two nations are dominated by peoples from two different "tribes". They speak different languages and have different customs.
It's like the French and Germans. They're both white and the line between the countries is rather arbitrary, but there are major cultural and historical differences for the separation.
Wait this isn't a story about a certain Yankee baseball player and steroids?
LOL!
If this were Boston, they could spend a small sum of money to depress Gambia 50 feet beneath the ground and convert the surface into a nice set of parks and cultural centers with easy road access.
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