An African Chunnel?

Through the 17th and 18th centuries, Britain and France battled for political and commercial supremacy in western Africa.
The 1783 Treaty of Versailles gave Great Britain possession of the Gambia River area, while the French kept most of the inner continent, including the rolling, sandy plains of the western Sabel desert known as the Senegal region. These peculiar borders remained after Senegal became independent in 1960 and The Gambia became independent in 1965.

These peculiar borders cause trouble, as The Gambia blocks the most direct routes between the two halfs of Senegal. This has often caused problems for Senegal, most recently yesterday:

On Tuesday, some Senegalese soldiers were briefly held in Gambia’s capital. The group of soldiers were taking the shortest route between northern Senegal and its southern region, Casamance, which cuts across Gambia – and doing a little shopping on the way. They were detained in Banjul market, and taken off to answer questions about what Senegalese soldiers were doing in Gambia, armed and in uniform, without permission. They had crossed by the Banjul ferry, at the mouth of the Gambia River.

The Trans-Gambia Highway, which runs further inland, has effectively been closed to cross-border traffic for over a month by Senegalese transporters protesting against the sudden doubling of charges to cross the river on the small and unreliable ferry.

President Abdoulaye Wade—a buddy of Mr. Bush—suggested three ways to break the deadlock.

• Gambia should build a bridge over the river
• Senegal could operate its own ferry
• As a last resort, Senegal could tunnel under Gambia – which is only about 35km wide.

Sounds nuts, but there are longer tunnels, including the Chunnel. China has apparently offered to help build it.