Outgoing Gambian President Yahya Jammeh delivered a New Year’s Eve message that accuses the West African nations of ECOWAS of issuing “a declaration of war” against him and his country, in their insistence that Jammeh must honor the December 1 election results and be removed from office. In his video address,…
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, on one of the last days of his tenure, called Gambian president-elect Adama Barrow on Thursday to congratulate him on his victory and assure Barrow that the UN supports the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its commitments to him. Ban has not…
The Gambia’s ambassador to the United States said Monday that he is concerned for his safety if he returns to the country, but won’t be deterred from insisting that embattled President Yahya Jammeh step down. “I cannot tell you, I wish I knew,” said Sheikh Omar Faye when asked what…
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, in a rambling conversation on state television late Tuesday, explained his reversal on the December 1 election results that gave the victory to opposition coalition candidate Adama Barrow, blaming a range of electoral procedure factors while dismissing attempts by other leaders to mediate the process. Jammeh…
In The Gambia, the political crisis caused by President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to accept results of the December 1 elections continued Tuesday, but none of the day’s developments appeared to bring the West African nation any closer to a resolution. A delegation of regional heads of state, including Nigerian President…
On Friday morning, former Gambian diplomat Sidi Sanneh wrote that preparations were underway in Banjul to celebrate coalition presidential candidate Adama Barrow’s historic victory over President Yahya Jammeh. That moment of jubilation is one that many of The Gambia’s 2 million citizens thought they’d never see. It was equally powerful…
As the darkness inched towards Thursday’s dawn in Banjul, uneasy Gambians prepared to head to the polls in critical elections – the most important in years – to determine if President Yayha Jammeh remains as leader of a country he’s controlled since 1994. Yet before a single marble was dropped,…
It’s been two weeks since Alex Vines, research director at Chatham House and head of its Africa program, delivered his clear-eyed assessment of the December 1 elections in The Gambia: “There is no chance of an upset.” Vines, with years of experience at the top-rated independent foreign policy organization, sees…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
The western African nation of The Gambia announced on Tuesday that it plans to leave the International Criminal Court, just days after South Africa notified the ICC in The Hague of its own intention to withdraw. In a televised statement, The Gambia’s Minister of Information, Communications and Infrastructure announced the…
The repression of ideas is under “widespread assault,” according to a new United Nations report on freedom of expression that finds mature democracies and developing nations alike are silencing dissent – and treating words as weapons – to suppress the free exchange of information and ideas. Internet shutdowns from Uganda…
Beginning this week, Gambian government officials no longer have access to visas for United States travel. The decision comes as the U.S. moves to crack down on The Gambia, but it may affect other African countries that hold up deportations by failing to cooperate with legal and travel requirements. The…
The Gambia has ordered that all female workers in the government must cover their hair. The memo was released on Monday January 4 detailing that “all female staff within the Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies are no longer allowed to expose their hair during official working hours. “Female staff are…