Fact: On April 23, 2025, an internet user who has the pseudonym “Finalapatriot” published a short nine -second video on his X -rating account showing Guinean nationals trying to enter Clandestinely in Senegal.
VERDICT : FAUX. The analysis and exploitation of video data made it possible to clearly establish that the gendarmerie escorted a religious guide. The assertion of Finalapatriot is false.
TEXT
In the video published by the user “Finalapatriot”, we see pick-ups of the Senegalese gendarmerie stopped alongside other public transport vehicles commonly called in Senegal “7 places”.
The text of the said video indicates: “A convoy of Guinean nationals was intercepted by the national gendarmerie while he was trying to join the Senegalese capital by clandestine way. Bravo”.
Source : screenshot publicationFinalapatriote
The publication quickly became viral with 125,000 views, 2,000 “like” mentions, 285 “Restt” and no less than 91 comments, most of which firmly believes in the thesis defended by the author of the post. Some Guineans, irritated by the comments of Senegalese Internet users on X asking that the convoy be repressed, complained about the same platform.
Source : screenshot of some comments from the publication
VERIFICATION
On the video, you can notice a Toyota brand pick-up, on which is written “gendarmerie”. Several agents are at the rear of the vehicle registered 7473. On the hood at the front, below the seal of the gendarmerie, painted in white, is inscribed in yellow the name of the squadron concerned: ESI Kounkane 20/2 (ESI means Squadron of surveillance and intervention).
Source : screenshot of said publication
Kounkane designates a locality in southern Senegal, located in the department of Vélingara, in the Kolda region, where this squadron is located.
Borders surveillance is one of the missions of these ESIs of the National Gendarmerie of Senegal, as well as the creation of “optimal security conditions for the smooth running of socio-economic activities”, said, last February, the high commander of the Senegalese national gendarmerie, General Martin Faye.
The convoy of a religious guide
In our research, we found another 40 -minute video, published on the YouTube Channel Fidelite TV, on April 15, 2025. A red banner at the bottom of the screen indicates that it is a convoy of a religious guide, in this case that of the caliph Thierno Mounirou Baldé, from Kandia to Médina Yoro Foulah. This Muslim religious guide, very influential in the Casamance region (southern Senegal), carried out a regional tour of April 13 to 16, 2025.
Accompanied by several of his faithful, his procession was secured by elements of the Surveillance and Intervention Squadron (ESI) in Kounkane. This is evidenced by the presence in the convoy of the same pick-up of the gendarmerie registered 7473.
Source : screenshot of the video on the movement of the religious guide
-From the 26the Second of the video, the cameraman, which apparently films with a mobile phone, turns on the vehicles behind the gendarmerie pick-up and carrying the faithful who accompany the religious guide. And it is from this moment that we hold a 2nd common element between the two videos. It is one of the faithful dressed in white boubou, pants in a mint green color, with a red turban which fails to hide the white hat in the middle of its head, it is perched on the roof of a gray “7 -seater” vehicle. Rosary in the right hand, legs apart, one of which is suspended on the driver’s side. He has the same posture on the short video published by “Finalapatriot” (from the 4the second) and that published by Fidelite TV on YouTube (from the 26thesecond).
Source : screenshot publicationFinalapatriote
Source : screenshot of the video on the movement of the religious guide
By operating the geospatial data on Google Earth Pro, we found that the cities of Kandia, Médina Yoro Foulah and Kounkane, the main stages of the tour of the religious guide, Thierno Mounirou Balde, all in a perimeter of 184.79 square kilometers, are covered by the unit of Surveillance and Intervention Squadron (ESI).
Source : Google Earth research
The author, Finalapatriot, admits that he was misleading; but Maintains its publication
We contacted the author of the publication, Finalapatriot, via his messaging X to have more details on this alleged convoy of Guinean nationals that the gendarmerie would have intercepted as announced in the video. Finalapatriot says he was misleading by the one who sent him the video. We asked him for the latter, without success.
Almost a week after its broadcast, the publication is still online on the social network X of Finalapatriot with more than 200,000 views, more than 280 rest, more than 100 comments and nearly 2,000 “like” mentions.
The head of the Communication Division of the Senegalese gendarmerie, Colonel Ndiaye, brought a denial:
“After verification, it is fake news. They used the images which concern the escort of the Marabout of the Peulh community of Médina Gounass to affix a erroneous commentary to the effect of deceiving opinion,” said the head of the communications department of the gendarmerie.
Conclusion
The analysis and exploitation of the data collected in the two videos made it possible to establish in a clear way that the gendarmerie escorted a religious guide. The assertion of Finalapatriot is false.
Kounkane’s surveillance and intervention squadron (ESI) has not stopped Guinean nationals accused of wanting to illegally enter Senegal.
Furthermore, as a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Guinea benefits from the 1979 protocol on the free movement of goods and people within ECOWAS.
Par Ayoba Faye
Article carried out as part of the 2025 scholarship of the Center for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID)
