Two Senegalese soldiers serving as peacekeepers in The Gambia for the West African bloc ECOWAS have been sent home after violating the country’s coronavirus restrictions, the force said Sunday.

The two members of the ECOMIG force were arrested last Wednesday by security forces policing the local coronavirus curfew, the force said in a statement.

The pair had been attending a birthday party, the statement said, adding: “Further disciplinary action is expected to be taken against them upon their arrival back home.”

On September 10, the Senegalese army reported that scores of its soldiers in The Gambia, a finger of territory surrounded by Senegal save for its Atlantic coast, had contracted Covid-19.

The ECOMIG force, made up mainly of Senegalese soldiers, was deployed to the tiny country in January 2017 after former dictator Yahya Jammeh refused to cede power after losing a presidential election.

Its mission has continued at President Adama Barrow’s request despite Jammeh’s departure into exile.

(AFP)