Alex Haley, our long lost brother, traced his root to Africa, to the West African coastal village of Jufureh, here in The Gambia. He found out that he was a descendant of Kunta Kinteh, Gambian legend. But did you know that Kunta Kinteh's grandfather was from Mauritania?

Well, apart from this single piece of historical revelation, the two countries are bound by a number of factors; religious as well as ethnic.
 
The Africanness we boast of is strongly tied to issues of geography and ethnicity. And these are attributes that bind these two west African nations together.

Historically, Mauritania, like the Gambia, went through the bondage of imperialism. Its people suppressed and oppressed. The two countries accommodate a substantial number of a handful of ethnic groups, among them the Wollofs and the Fullahs. The Tukulors, an off-shoot of the Fullani tribe, form the ethnic group that predominates a peculier portion in both sides of the two boarders. Mauritanians have been in the Gambia for centuries now. Many have since integrated.

If Africa's unification through established regional bodies can not be tenable, as it is proving to be, we might as well give it a try by establishing country-to-country links.

As a matter of fact, this whole concept of unification seeks to facilitate the livelihood of the citizens of Africa. So, if we can achieve that goal by forging links with countries that are ready for it, so be it. Perhaps it will accelerate the continental unification process.

We tend to underestimate the strength of collaborations between African countries, but there is greater potential in it than we currently get from the marriages of inconvenience with the western world. Among ourselves there is a lot at stake.

Trade, even if it is informal, is already in existence between Gambia and Mauritania. Almost all Mauritanians resident in this coutry are engaged in one kind of business or the other. This serve as a reliable source of foreign exchange for their families back in Mauritania.

And in a way this contribute in the economy of The Gambia. In education, apart from the home based Gambian Islamic scholars that benefit from the very important Mauritanian Islamic insitution located in Bundung, many more Gambians have for some time now been benefiting from training in Islamic affairs, especially in the teaching field, in Mauritania.

The eminent visit of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallah offers a great more opportunities to increase the benefit the two people stand to gain from the link. Long live African unity!