Tension is building on the border between Gambia and Senegal due to an escalating dispute over ferry fares.

Their actions are making a mockery of regional integration

Gambian Foreign Minister

Senegalese union leaders say Gambia has doubled ferry fares for Senegalese vehicles crossing the Senegal River into Gambia, while keeping Gambian cars exempt.

They have retaliated by preventing vehicles from crossing the border into Senegal in both directions.

But ferry authorities say there is a misunderstanding and that all vehicles pay the new, increased fare.

The Gambian Government is now trying to solve the problem through diplomatic channels.

Long queues

The BBC's Ebrima Sillah, who went to the Senegalese side of the border on Tuesday, says that long queues of trucks have formed at the checkpoint because transport union members are preventing goods from being taken across.

He says that some drivers are worried because their livelihood is threatened by the blockade.

But he says that people are allowed to walk across the border in both directions.

On Monday, the vehicle of Gambian Foreign Minister Baboucarr Blaise Jagne, who wanted to cross into Senegal to travel on to Mauritania, was prevented from travelling over the border.

He has urged the Senegalese Government to respect the free movement of goods between the two countries.

"Their actions are making a mockery of regional integration," he said at a news briefing in Banjul.