The Minister of the Interior of Guinea Bissau, Botche Cande, recently paid a three-day working visit to The Gambia and was hosted by his Gambian counterpart Yankuba J.N Sonko. During the visit, Hon. Cande and his entourage paid a courtesy call on all the security institutions under the purview of the Ministry of the Interior. The visit was extended to His Excellency President Adama Barrow and the Chief of Defence Staff of the Gambia Armed Forces, from the 13th to 17TH of November 2020.
The trip was regarded a very important step towards strengthening bilateral security ties between the two West African countries.
During the courtesy call, various security apparatuses were visited with the aim to share and learn best practices, and to align democratic principles of good security and governance. The Government of the Gambia through the Ministry of the Interior acknowledged the visit and showed its political will to maintain the existing relationship between the two governments. The talks centred around the menace of terrorism, trafficking of illicit drugs, human smuggling and trafficking.
Meanwhile, during security dialogue with Minister Cande, the security institutions expressed their support to the proposed communique for strengthening cooperation. The two states promised to share information and intelligence required for the proliferation of peace, security and stability within the entire region.
Highlighting the importance of the visit, the Honourable Minister of the Interior, Yankuba JN Sonko described the courtesy call as timely and informed that the visit by the Bissau Guinean Interior Minister emanated from the President of the Republic of The Gambia’s visit to Bissau. He remarked: "We are all aware that no one nation can fight crime alone; we all need the cooperation of other countries to fight crime. Since Senegal and Guinea Bissau are our immediate neighbors, it is important that we have this tripartite cooperation with the three nations to stop trans-national crimes, criminals moving from one country to another, criminals entering from one border to another. These are the common objectives of our cooperation with our immediate neighbours,” he said.
In his farewell remarks, Minister Cande expressed gratitude for the warm welcome accorded him and his delegation, as well as the respect and discipline showed to him by the various security departments throughout his entire visit. He as well expressed his appreciation to Minister Sonko and through him, he extended his heartfelt message to President Barrow and the heads of all the various security apparatuses for their support and cooperation.