Remembrance ceremonies are being held in Senegal's capital, Dakar, to pay
tribute to more than 1,000 people who died in Africa's worst-ever maritime
disaster. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade is expected to lead a
commemoration service with prayers said by leaders of various religious
denominations for the victims of the Joola ferry tragedy.
The vessel capsized off the coast of Gambia with an official count of 1,034
people on board. There were only 64 survivors.

A poem will be read out at the ceremony in memory of the victims.
The southern region of Casamance was badly hit by the disaster, with many
families there mourning the loss of relatives. The ferry was the region's
main link to the capital, Dakar.
A plane is being chartered to bring these families from the Casamance
capital, Zinguinchor, to Dakar to take part in the service.

All Senegalese were profoundly shocked

Traditional Casamance rites will be performed at the ceremony.

On Thursday, President Wade visited Gambia to thank the country for its
support during the sinking of the Joola.

The Senegalese national football team are to play a charity match against
Nigeria on Saturday in aid of the victims' families.
Only 425 corpses have been recovered so far - many of them decomposed and
unidentifiable. Many more are believed to be still trapped inside the
overturned ship.





_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~