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Serekunda

Coordinates: 13°26′N 16°40′W / 13.433°N 16.667°W / 13.433; -16.667
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Serekunda
City
Downtown Serekunda
Downtown Serekunda
Serekunda is located in The Gambia
Serekunda
Serekunda
Location in the Gambia
Coordinates: 13°26′N 16°40′W / 13.433°N 16.667°W / 13.433; -16.667
CountryGambia
DivisionKanifing
DistrictKanifing
Founded bySayerr Jobe
Named forFounder
Population
 (2013)[1]
 • City19,944
 • Urban
 (Kanifing Municipal Council)[2]
382,096
 • Metro
 (2018)[3]
1,150,000
Time zone0 GMT

Serekunda or Serrekunda is the largest urban centre in The Gambia. It is situated close to the Atlantic coast, on the Gambia River, near the capital, Banjul. Serekunda and Banjul form an urban area known as the Kombos, with about half of the population of the Gambia.

Serekunda was named for its founder Sayerr Jobe. It merged with several villages into a larger urban area. Banjul's growth has been restricted due to being a small island, leading to Serekunda growing in population and businesses moving there from Banjul. Since the 1980s, Serekunda has been a regional center of the Tablighi Jamaat religious movement.

Serekunda has a popular market. Along the coast, the Senegambia Strip is a popular place for foreign tourists.

History

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Foundation and toponymy

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Serekunda was founded in the second half of the 19th century by Sayerr Jobe, a Wolof man originally from Koki in the Kingdom of Cayor, in what is now northern Senegal. At the time Sukuta was the only nearby settlement, and the area was a thick forest.[4] The name 'Serekunda' is a corruption of 'Sayerr Kunda', meaning 'the home of Sayerr's family'.[5]

Several villages, including Dippakunda, Latrikunda, and Serekunda, grew into the city of Serekunda.[6]

Post-independence

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After the National Convention Party (NCP) was founded in 1975, Serekunda and neighboring Bakau were the towns with the highest support for it outside of the rural Badibbu area. Though the NCP was primarily a Mandinka party, it, as well as the People's Progressive Party (PPP), had wide support across ethnic groups in Serekunda. In the 1977 Gambian general election, Serekunda had two constituencies; Serekunda West elected the NCP and Serekunda East elected the PPP. Both races were close. In the 1979 local elections, the Kanifing Urban District Council had eight seats won by the PPP and the remaining four won by the NCP. Serekunda's vote in this election was 63% in favor of PPP. In the 1982 Gambian general election, the PPP won both seats in Serekunda, with 63% of the vote, and the NCP kept a narrow hold of Bakau. The result in Serekunda West was influenced by a local man who had switched his support from the NCP to the PPP.[6]

In 1982, a survey found that less than 10% of workers in Serekunda were in unions.[7] In 1985, Serekunda's population was estimated to be 70,000. Many residents worked in Banjul. About 3% of residents were employed as farmers, and others raised crops or livestock, unlike in Banjul.[6]

Jammeh administration

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In March 1996, students at the Muslim High School were involved in a riot against Yahya Jammeh's military rule, which led to its principal, Pa Modou N'jie, being fired.[8] In the 1997 Gambian parliamentary election, the first election after Jammeh took power, the Serrekunda East seat was won by the little-known Fabakary Jatta in an upset against Halifa Sallah, a founding member of PDOIS. Sallah did not contest the result.[9] In 2001, Jammeh's government conducted extrajudicial killings at the University of the Gambia.[10]

Barrow administration

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On 21 January 2017, when Yahya Jammeh left the country, a crowd celebrated at Westfield Junction in Serekunda.[11] After Jammeh lost the presidency, many Gambian emigrants returned to the country. Management of these migrants was concentrated in Serekunda.[12] A group that had been stuck in transit in Libya stoned the International Organization for Migration's office in Serekunda, feeling frustrated that the government had not kept its promise to reintegrate them.[13]

After incumbent Adama Barrow won the 2021 Gambian presidential election, the candidate Ousainou Darboe of the United Democratic Party contested the result. A group of the party's supporters gathered at his house in Serekunda and were dispersed with tear gas, which was condemned by the National Human Rights Commission.[14]

Geography

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Serekunda and Banjul are located 18 kilometres (11 mi) from each other, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, at the mouth of the Gambia River.[6][15] The conurbation of Serekunda and Banjul, known as the Kombos, is the only major urban area in the Gambia.[16] The expansion of Banjul has been limited as it is an island surrounded by mangrove swamps, leading to Serekunda overtaking its status and gaining its overflow population.[6][17][18] In the 2000s, offices in Banjul moved to more modern offices with better infrastructure in Serekunda.[19]

Climate

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Serekunda is near the Sahara Desert. It is cloudless on 80% of days. It has one rainy season lasting from June to October.[20]

Its total ozone amount ranges from 225 to 329 Dobson units, with a mean of 268.1±15.97 Dobson units, as of 1993 to 1996. Its ozone peak is during its rainy season. The average daily erythemal ultraviolet dose is 5 kilojoules per square meter, with more variation during the rainy season.[20]

Demographics

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Population

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As of the 2013 Population and Housing Census, Serekunda has a population of 19,944 people, including 9,758 women.[1]

Kanifing, which includes Serekunda, has a population of 382,096, including 189,679 males and 192,417 females. It has 67,119 households, with an average household size of 5.70.[2]

Kanifing population history[2]
1993 2003 2013
228,214 322,410 382,096

The urban agglomeration of Kanifing and Serrekunda is the only major urban area in the Gambia. It has about half of the country's population, as of 2018.[3]

Languages

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Serekunda is ethnically and linguistically diverse.[6] The Wolof language serves as a lingua franca in Serekunda and across the west of the country. Nearly all signage is in Gambian English.[21]

Religion

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The Deeper Christian Life Ministry runs a health centre in Old Yundum.[22]

Tablighi Jamaat movement

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The Markaz mosque on Bundung Highway

Serekunda is a centre of the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic movement. The Markaz (transl. Center), a dawah centre in the Bundung area, is the country's main centre of the Jamaat. The Markaz is open to the public and congregates on Thursdays. It has a reputation for being secretive and is surrounded by barbed wire.[23]

In the 1990s, and adherents from across West Africa convened in the city. Imam Dukureh, who had grown up in the village of Gambissara and studied in Saudi Arabia, introduced the Jamaat to the Gambia. After his followers determined the Jamaat would not be popular in the village, they built a compound in Serrekunda, that he moved into. As the compound expanded, it moved to another part of Serekunda, expanding to a two-storey building with an adjacent mosque that can seat 2,000 people. Pakistani preachers preach at the compound.[23] Dukureh served as the imam of the Markaz until his death in 2000. Since the Markaz banned women in 2003, five homes of women who adhere to the Jamaat have served as centres of it.[24]

Immigration

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Serekunda is an ethnic enclave of Soninke people, including many from the town of Sabi. Some Soninke migrants move their families to Serekunda.[25][26]

People from villages come to the Kombos to study, work, run small businesses, or join businesses of relatives. On average, these villagers stay for 2.2 years.[16]

Economy

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The market in Serekunda

According to the 2013 economic census, Kanifing had 14,924 business establishments, the highest of any local government area and 40.3% of the country's total. the districts of Serekunda West, Serekunda East, and Serekunda Central respectively had 5,051, 3,547, and 3,198 establishments.[1]

Serekunda's market is crowded. It is a popular place to buy batik.[27] Vendors at Serekunda Market have other jobs such as farming.[28]

Serekunda and other Gambian cities have informal trade networks that smuggle products across the Gambia–Senegal border.[29]

The Banjul-Serrekunda Highway has large billboards for companies such as Gamcel. Sayerr Jobe Avenue has shops whose storefronts advertise to people walking or driving on the street.[21]

Tourism

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The Senegambia Strip in Serekunda is the country's most famous site for coastal entertainment. It receives tourists from wealthy countries, whose spending is a major contributor to the economy. It has a large market for sex tourism.[30]

Infrastructure

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Transportation

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Westfield Junction

Westfield Junction is a busy intersection at the terminus of a highway to Banjul. From the intersection, drivers can go to coastal Serekunda or continue inland.[31]

Serekunda is linked to Banjul by a public bus service and private taxis.[6]

Healthcare

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Kanifing General Hospital, formerly known as Serrekunda General Hospital, is a tertiary referral hospital.[32] It serves a catchment area of 600,000 people, and it has 114 beds and 2 operating theatres, as of 2021. Its thyroid clinic was established in 2015.[33]

Serekunda Health Centre serves a catchment area of 123,000 people in Serekunda and nearby settlements. It is one of the busiest health facilities in the Gambia. It delivers over 300 babies per month.[34] It has an infant welfare clinic.[35] Kanifing General Hospital and the Serekunda Health Centre provide infertility care.[36] Serekunda Health Centre has seen a decrease in malaria cases since 2005.[37]

Sport

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Ahead of the country hosting the 2005 African U-17 Championship, the Gambia Football Federation upgraded two stadiums in Serekunda, with support from the government and the FIFA Forward programme. The Gambian National Olympic Committee's Sport Infrastructure Initiative Project completed a mini stadium in Serekunda in 2001, which opened in 2007.[38]

Traditional wrestling matches attract tourists.[39]

Districts or suburbs

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The following districts form part of Serekunda:

  1. Bakoteh
  2. Bunungka Kunda
  3. Dippa Kunda
  4. Eboe Town
  5. Faji Kunda
  6. London Corner
  7. New Jeshwang
  8. Old Jeshwang
  9. Kololi
  10. Kotu
  11. Latri Kunda
  12. Latri Kunda Sabiji
  13. Manjai Kunda
  14. Serekunda District
  15. Talinding Kunjang
  16. Churchill's Town
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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Census 2013". Gambia Bureau of Statistics. 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Population and Housing Census of Gambia, 2013". Gambia Data Portal. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b Auer, Daniel; Gereke, Johanna; Schaub, Max (2023-08-02). "Spiritual practices predict migration behavior". Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 12535. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-39587-4. ISSN 2045-2322.
  4. ^ Jabai, Sailu Bah Saikou Suwareh (2 March 2015). ""Sayerr Jobe's name cannot be easily forgotten" Says a descendant". Foroyaa. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Serrekunda Town, Gambia". Access Gambia. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Wiseman, John A. (1985). "Parties and elections in Africa". The Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. 23 (1): 3–29. doi:10.1080/14662048508447463. ISSN 0306-3631.
  7. ^ Perfect, David (1986). "Organized Labour and Politics in The Gambia: 1960-85". Labour, Capital and Society / Travail, capital et société. 19 (2): 168–199. ISSN 0706-1706. JSTOR 43157755.
  8. ^ Wiseman, John A. (1996). "Military Rule in the Gambia: An Interim Assessment". Third World Quarterly. 17 (5): 917–940. doi:10.1080/01436599615182. ISSN 0143-6597. JSTOR 3993237.
  9. ^ Saine, Abdoulaye S. M. (Winter 1998). "The Military's Managed Transition to "Civilian Rule" in the Gambia". Journal of Political & Military Sociology. 26 (2): 157–168. ISSN 0047-2697.
  10. ^ Hultin, Niklas; Jallow, Baba; Lawrance, Benjamin N.; Sarr, Assan (2017). "Briefing: Autocracy, Migration, and the Gambia's 'Unprecedented' 2016 Election". African Affairs. 116 (463): 321–340. ISSN 0001-9909.
  11. ^ Mallinder, Lorraine (15 February 2017). "A dictator in the family". New Statesman. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  12. ^ Marino, Rossella; Schapendonk, Joris; Lietaert, Ine (2023-05-27). "Translating EUrope's Return Migration Regime to The Gambia: The Incorporation of Local CSOs". Geopolitics. 28 (3): 1033–1056. doi:10.1080/14650045.2022.2050700. ISSN 1465-0045.
  13. ^ Zanker, Franzisca; Altrogge, Judith (2019-03-29). "The Political Influence of Return: From Diaspora to Libyan Transit Returnees". International Migration. 57 (4): 167–180. doi:10.1111/imig.12578. ISSN 0020-7985.
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  19. ^ Sundby, Johanne (2014-09-14). "A rollercoaster of policy shifts: Global trends and reproductive health policy in The Gambia". Global Public Health. 9 (8): 894–909. doi:10.1080/17441692.2014.940991. ISSN 1744-1692. PMC 4166968. PMID 25203251.
  20. ^ a b Ssenyonga, Taddeo; Stamnes, Jakob J.; Dahlback, Arne; Steigen, Andreas; Okullo, Willy; Frette, Øyvind (2010-03-17). "Analysis of Ozone (O3) and Erythemal UV (EUV) measured by TOMS in the equatorial African belt". South African Journal of Science. 106 (1/2). doi:10.4102/sajs.v106i1/2.12. ISSN 1996-7489.
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  22. ^ Ankomah, Baffour (1 October 2006). "A church in transition". New African. No. 455. p. 21.
  23. ^ a b Janson, Marloes (2005). "Roaming About For God's Sake: The Upsurge of the Tablīgh Jamā'at in the Gambia". Journal of Religion in Africa. 35 (4): 450–481. doi:10.1163/157006605774832199. ISSN 0022-4200.
  24. ^ Janson, Marloes (2016-02-27). "Male Wives and Female Husbands". The Journal of Religion in Africa. 46 (2–3): 187–218. doi:10.1163/15700666-12340084. ISSN 0022-4200.
  25. ^ Lobnibe, Isidore (2017-04-03). "Bush Bound: Young Men and Rural Permanence in Migrant West Africa, by Paolo Gaibazzi". Anthropological Forum. 27 (2): 171–173. doi:10.1080/00664677.2016.1265276. ISSN 0066-4677.
  26. ^ Gaibazzi, Paolo (2014). "Visa problem: certification, kinship, and the production of 'ineligibility' in the Gambia". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 20 (1): 38–55. doi:10.1111/1467-9655.12078. ISSN 1359-0987. JSTOR 43907611.
  27. ^ Unzué, Michelle (1 December 2007). "En Gambia: No problem". Nuestro Tiempo. Vol. 19, no. 2. p. 39.
  28. ^ Schapendonk, Joris; Ekenhorst, Marieke (2020-12-13). "From Sectors to Circuits: Re-Describing Senegambian In/Formal Practices in Europe, and Beyond". Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie. 111 (5): 705–717. doi:10.1111/tesg.12401. ISSN 0040-747X.
  29. ^ Benjamin, Nancy C.; Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly (2012-10-18). "The Informal Sector, Productivity, and Enforcement in West Africa: A Firm-level Analysis". Review of Development Economics. 16 (4): 664–680. doi:10.1111/rode.12010. ISSN 1363-6669.
  30. ^ Kachipande, Sitinga (2023). "Sun, Sand, Sex, and Safari: The Interplay of Sex Tourism and Global Inequalities in Africa's Tourism Industry". Journal of Global South Studies. 40 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1353/gss.2023.0007. ISSN 2476-1419.
  31. ^ Hultin, Niklas (2013-01-01). "Law, Opacity, and Information in Urban Gambia". Social Analysis. 57 (3). doi:10.3167/sa.2013.570303. ISSN 0155-977X.
  32. ^ Cross, James H.; Jarjou, Ousman; Mohammed, Nuredin Ibrahim; Gomez, Santiago Rayment; Touray, Bubacarr J. B.; Kessler, Noah J.; Prentice, Andrew M.; Cerami, Carla (2023-06-26). "Iron homeostasis in full-term, normal birthweight Gambian neonates over the first week of life". Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 10349. Bibcode:2023NatSR..1310349C. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-34592-z. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 10293170. PMID 37365154.
  33. ^ Jammeh, Saffie; Eeson, Gareth; Sanyang, Buba; Badjie, Alieu D.; Eckfeldt, Matthew; Eckfeldt, Catharine B.; Brauer, Deborah S.; Just, Jon (2021-10-01). "Multidisciplinary thyroid disease management in The Gambia: Results of a 6-year multinational collaboration". East and Central African Journal of Surgery. 26 (4): 153. doi:10.4314/ecajs.v26i4.2 (inactive 19 August 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2024 (link)
  34. ^ "Newly renovated maternity unit to bring smiles to the women of Serekunda". UNFPA. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  35. ^ Odutola, Aderonke; Afolabi, Muhammed O.; Ogundare, Ezra O.; Lowe-Jallow, Yamu Ndow; Worwui, Archibald; Okebe, Joseph; Ota, Martin O. (2015-08-25). "Risk factors for delay in age-appropriate vaccinations among Gambian children". BMC Health Services Research. 15 (1): 346. doi:10.1186/s12913-015-1015-9. ISSN 1472-6963. PMC 4551385. PMID 26315547.
  36. ^ Bittaye, Haddy; Mooney, Jason P.; Afferri, Anna; Balen, Julie; Kay, Vanessa (2023-02-28). "Introducing assisted reproductive technologies in The Gambia, a survey on the perspectives of Gambian healthcare professionals and medical students". BMC Health Services Research. 23 (1): 203. doi:10.1186/s12913-023-09171-7. ISSN 1472-6963. PMC 9979844. PMID 36855053.
  37. ^ Ceesay, Serign J.; Casals-Pascual, Climent; Nwakanma, Davis C.; Walther, Michael; Gomez-Escobar, Natalia; Fulford, Anthony J. C.; Takem, Ebako N.; Nogaro, Sarah; Bojang, Kalifa A.; Corrah, Tumani; Jaye, Momodou Cherno; Taal, Makie Abdoulie; Sonko, Aja Adam Jagne; Conway, David J. (2010-08-18). "Continued Decline of Malaria in The Gambia with Implications for Elimination". PLOS ONE. 5 (8): e12242. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...512242C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012242. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2923605. PMID 20805878.
  38. ^ Camara, Pascal Mamudou (2023-07-03). "Sport policy in the Gambia: power imbalances between the government and the NOC". International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. 15 (3): 549–561. doi:10.1080/19406940.2023.2219268. ISSN 1940-6940.
  39. ^ Williams, Stephen (July–August 2001). "A Traveller's Tale". African Business. No. 267.
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13°26′N 16°40′W / 13.433°N 16.667°W / 13.433; -16.667

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