DAKAR, July 19 (AFP) - Ministerial teams from Senegal and Gambia have ended a row over river ferry fares which had blocked road traffic between the two west African nations for days, official sources said Friday. Officials from Gambia, which is a narrow strip of a country largely cutting off the north from the south of Senegal, have decided to withdraw a steep rise in ferry fares across the Gambia river, the pro-government Le Soleil reported. Teams led by Senegalese Transport Minister Youssouf Sakho and his Gambian counterpart, Edward Singhateh, agreed that Senegal would in return lift a number of customs restrictions on goods from Gambia, an official statement said. The negotiations lasted for 15 hours late into Thursday night, according to officials. Senegalese truck drivers and their unions had refused to pay the new ferry fares, which went up by between 50 and 100 percent, and retaliated by blockading the border from July 9, causing large traffic queues to build up. The regulations had exempted Gambian drivers. The private daily Sud Quotidien said Friday that the Senegalese roadblock had already been lifted, before the official account of the negotiations was released. Customs tariffs are very low in Gambia and the country imports a large number of goods which it re-exports to other nations in the region, particularly Senegal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~