Joy as Senegal's Casamance Ferry Service Resumes

A ferry service between Senegal's capital and the isolated southern Casamance region has resumed to the joy and relief of many who said its months-long suspension had cost them dearly.

For the first time since June, passengers disembarked in the region's capital, Ziguinchor, under the midday sun, after an overnight voyage along the Atlantic coast, mangroves and the banks of the Casamance River, under the escort of a military vessel.

The maritime link is vital for the economy of the rural and cut-off Casamance region and an alternative for many who can't afford the cost of a plane ticket.

"We had really been deprived of our freedom and now we have regained our freedom," 52-year-old Louis Bakourine, a driver, said at the docks as freight was unloaded from the ferry.

The service had been closed due to political unrest and the resumption coincided with celebrations marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when many people return home.

Some 233 passengers embarked on the Aline Sitoe Diatta ferry which sounded its foghorn while departing the port of Dakar after dark.

Ticket prices start at $8.3.

The maritime link, operated by three ships, has for years carried hundreds of passengers weekly between the capital and Casamance, several hundred kilometers to the south, in both directions.

The service is key for traders, tourists and students and also transports freight, fruit and fish.

Casamance is almost separated from the rest of Senegal by the tiny state of The Gambia.

More than 5,000 people signed a petition organized in October by the head of a processing company for agricultural products over the impact of the ferry's suspension on jobs and income for thousands of families as well as on the price of goods.

Authorities halted the ferry service last June without any official explanation, fuelling suspicions they just wanted to punish the region.