By RFIPalled on 26-09-2019Modified on 26-09-2019 at 04:46
On 26 September 2002, the ferry that made the connection between Casamance and Dakar sank off the Gambia, officially making 1863 dead and 64 survivors only. 17 years later, the memory of the tragedy is still alive but keeping the memory is a fight sometimes complicated.
Among the survivors of the sinking, Malang Badji said he had " won a battle ", that of nightmares, but " not war ": that of memory. It is on a balcony overlooking the ocean and the port of Dakar Malang Badji tells its story. " I'm not scared anymore. I can even take the boat to go to Ziguinchor if necessary. I often think about it when I'm alone. I palliate by the work. "
His work as a cook, sports, a psychological follow-up too, to advance since that night - it was a Thursday - he was 19, high school student and was going to continue his studies. Boarding at Ziguinchor, heading to Dakar ... " Suddenly, the boat made a big noise, a barrel" boom ". A second barrel. "Boom". And then, he's bowed. There people shouted everywhere and everyone wanted to escape. "
Malang Badji managed to get on the hull. For him, time passes but the lessons are not learned . " Who was imprisoned? Nobody. The Senegalese are amnesic. The state too. Because it's been 17 years since we ran behind the state to ask them even to bail out the boat. They were just being asked to give us a seat at the Ziguinchor port so that we could remember our parents. A stele. The state did not put the means. This is the fight we have left. "
No memorial, but a duty of memory . As every September 26 since the sinking, Malang Badji takes a leave to participate in the commemorations.
Malang Badji, the fight of memory
25-09-2019 - By Charlotte Idrac
A village gam well maintains the cemetery
In The Gambia, there is a large mass grave where the bodies of the Joola victims have been gathered. The cemetery is located in the village of Bassori inland, more than an hour's drive from Banjul, the capital.
On the eve of the commemorations, several young people from the village were sent to clean the cemetery, covered by vegetation. Ridged of her weeds, the tombstone indicates the name of only forty victims.
But the account is not there, explains Moro Kongira, 18 years old at the time of the facts. " At certain places in the cemetery, you will find about twenty people buried on the same site. So it's a lot of people. Frankly, I can not tell you how many people are buried here. "
Several hundred unidentified bodies would rest underground. The village of Bassori was chosen for its position on the road that connects Casamance to Gambia. The village community has invested in preserving the cemetery, but feels insecure warned Moro Kongira.
" The community needs help. These are the people here who clean the cemetery voluntarily, sometimes setting up tents for ceremonies. It happened that the village chief pays the work to maintain the cemetery. "
For the moment the walls hold good. The memory of the Joola is still too bright to let them collapse. In Bassori, Gambia, the commemoration ceremony will take place one day later, Friday 27th.
The village of Bassori, guardian of the cemetery
25-09-2019 - By Romain Chanson
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