DAKAR, Senegal
Scores of
Senegalese soldiers deployed to neighboring The Gambia have tested positive for
COVID-19.
“Out of a contingent of over 600
men, fewer than 100 tested positive,” a Senegalese army spokesman said on
Thursday.
According to the spokesman, the
army had recalled its soldiers to the village of Toubacouta just north of the
Gambian border “as a precautionary measure.”
Further tests were underway, the
spokesman said, adding that the soldiers who had tested positive have been
placed in a hotel in the coastal village of Guerero, some 60 kilometers (37
miles) south of the capital Dakar.
He, however, did not specify when
or where the soldiers had been infected.
The troops are a part of a West
African peacekeeping force deployed in January 2017 to The Gambia after the
country’s former dictator, Yahya Jammeh, refused to hand over power after
losing a presidential election.
The majority of the troops in the
Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) force are Senegalese, which
completely surrounds the tiny former British colony.
“So far, The Gambia has recorded
3,239 COVID-19 cases with 99 fatalities.
Senegal has recorded 14,150 cases
and 293 fatalities.
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