The Darboe family of Gunjur and some residents of Berending have engaged in clashes over land resources. The development took place on Sunday morning of 18th March after years of simmering tensions.

Breaking the news to this medium, a member of Darboe family, Omar Darboe revealed: “The Darboe Kunda Family of Gunjur Kombo South have been attacked on their farmland by Berending people. It all happened when the Darboe kunda family visited their land to see how it’s being occupied by unknown people. Upon their arrival they were seriously attacked by people from Berending which caused many youths from Darboe Kunda Family to sustain serious injuries”.

The latest development betrays an ethnic and political fault lines that can develop into a full blown crisis.

An eyewitness who was at the scene of the clash lamented: “They attacked us with guns an cutlasses and they wounded some of us”.

The mainly Jola ethnic group of Berending are historically indigenous to the Senegalese region of Cassamance and belong to the ethnic group of former President Yaya Jammeh. Under the former president, they appropriated “huge swathes of land with impunity” which the owners of the land are trying to reclaim. A source with information on the issues said the Darboe family had already initiated legal proceedings to reclaim the land.

It could be recalled that decades ago, a similar clash occurred between the Gunjur Jammeh Kunda family and the people from Berending over land dispute which ended in a lengthy legal battle.

This is a developing story and we will keep you posted on any new development as we are reliably informed that some youths are calling for a revenge attack.