The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Yahya Jammeh

For Gambia, it’s D-Day
SIR: Global civil society alliance – CIVICUS – urges President Yahya Jammeh to respect constitutional norms and the will of the Gambian people. For the last 21 years, his regime has used violence to shut down dissent. The current crackdown against the media and civil society is indicative of his regime’s past tactics.

On January 1, three radio stations – Taranga FM, Hill Top Radio and Afri Radio were ordered to stop broadcasting by the National Intelligence Agency. On January 9, security agents stormed Paradise FM and called on the station to cease broadcasting to the public. The Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure subsequently sent a letter to all four radio stations informing them that their licenses have been revoked, without providing any justification.

Since December 31, 2016, intelligence agents have arrested and detained citizens wearing t-shirts bearing the logo of the movement – #GambiaHasDecided. The movement is leading calls on President Yahya Jammeh to respect the results of the December 1, 2016 elections and step down. The targeting of the leaders of the movement and those perceived by the authorities to be associated with it has forced several Gambians to flee after receiving credible threats to their lives.

The Gambia has been in a state of uncertainty and continues to experience heightened tensions since President Yahya Jammeh rejected the results of the December elections. At first President Jammeh conceded defeat and congratulated the political opposition, later denouncing the results, announcing he would challenge them in court. In line with the Gambian constitution, the newly elected president is due to be inaugurated today, January 19. The clampdown on independent media and members of the political opposition is aimed at preventing citizens from accessing information and intimidating those calling for him to honour the results and peacefully hand over power.

The West African regional bloc – the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – has called on President Jammeh to respect the outcome of the December elections and to step down today. ECOWAS leaders have also held meetings with President Jammeh to persuade him to do the right thing.

CIVICUS calls on President Jammeh to cooperate fully with the leaders of the ECOWAS to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to avoid political instability and enhance Gambia’s democratic transition.
- Comrade Akingbola Temidayo,
Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Ondo-State Chapter.
January 19, 2017
Jammeh can stay in office for three months – Parliament

Gambia’s National Assembly has passed a resolution to allow President Yahya Jammeh to stay in office for three months from Wednesday, state television said.

Jammeh lost an election in December to opposition leader Adama Barrow and is due to hand over power on Thursday, Reuters reported.

However, the veteran leader has declared a state of emergency and said he will not step down before a court hears his election challenge.

January 18, 2017
Jammeh declares state of emergency in Gambia

Desperate to hold on to power, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has declared a state of emergency, citing foreign interference in the presidential election he lost last month.

In a television broadcast on Tuesday, Jammeh said the declaration was necessary “due to the unprecedented and extraordinary amount of foreign inference in the December 1 presidential elections and also in the internal affairs of The Gambia,”

“ This had created an unwarranted hostile atmosphere, threatening the sovereignty, peace, security and stability of the country,” he added.

More details soon

January 17, 2017
Update: Support for Gambia’s Jammeh crumbling as sixth minister resigns

Gambia’s tourism and culture minister on Tuesday said he will step down, in what was a sign of dwindling support for Gambia’s outgoing president Yahya Jammeh, who refuses to recognise his loss in a recent election.

Benjamin Roberts is the sixth member in the incumbent president’s cabinet to resign in less than 48 hours, following the ministers of trade, foreign affairs, finance, environment and sport.

Observers believe the resignations showed that Jammeh, who ruled Gambia for 22 years with an iron fist, is increasingly politically isolated.

The 51-year-old autocrat refused to accept the result of the Dec. 1 election, which saw him lose power to Adama Barrow, a real estate mogul little known before his candidacy.

Barrow, who is scheduled to be sworn in as president on Thursday, fled Gambia to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, amid fears of violence on Saturday.

Senegalese President Macky Sall had accepted to host Barrow at the request of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after repeated attempts failed to convince Jammeh to cede power.

ECOWAS also pledged to send troops to ensure a peaceful transition of power.

On Monday, Gambia’s Supreme Court postponed for the second time a petition Jammeh filed to challenge the presidential election.

The court has been dysfunctional since Jammeh fired several of its judges in mid-2016 and could only sit if judges are flown in from neighbouring Nigeria or Sierra Leone. (dpa/NAN)

January 17, 2017
Four ministers quit Jammeh’s government

Gambia’s Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Environment have resigned from President Yahya Jammeh’s government, according to report on Tuesday.

They all resigned as regional forces prepare to oust the veteran leader unless he steps down by Thursday.

Jammeh, in power since a 1994 coup, has become increasingly isolated at home and abroad after he refused to accept his defeat in the December 1, 2016 presidential election, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The president’s surprise defeat was seen as a boost to democracy in the former British colony, which has had only two presidents since it gained independence in 1965.

But Jammeh’s defiance has sent the tiny West African country into crisis, causing government defections and opening up the prospect of military intervention by other countries in the region.

A senior Nigerian military source said Nigeria and other West African nations were prepared to intervene militarily to remove Jammeh if he remains in office after Wednesday, when his presidential mandate runs out.

“The chiefs of defence staff of West African countries met on Monday to discuss strategies on the best way to get Yahya Jammeh out if he refuses to hand over power,’’ the Nigerian, who declined to be identified, told NAN.

January 17, 2017
Video: Jammeh begs ECOWAS leaders to allow court decide fate

President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, has released a recording of his telephone conversation with the Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf over the election crisis in his country.

In the video, Jammeh pleaded with Sirleaf to convince other West African leaders to allow hired Supreme Court judges to travel to Banjul to hear his petition challenging the outcome of the presidential election.

Recall that ECOWAS had called on Yahya to hand over power to Barrow after he rejected the outcome of the election, warning that he won’t be recognised as President of the country from January 19, the date Barrow is supposed to be sworn in as President.

The video is below:

January 16, 2017
Gambia: AU ‘to stop’ recognising Jammeh from January 19

The African Union will cease to recognise Yahya Jammeh as president of The Gambia should he refuse to stand down by January 19, the date he is due to hand over power to the winner of that country presidential election.

The AU’s Peace and Security Council in a statement on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, also warned of “serious consequences in the event that his action causes any crisis that could lead to political disorder, humanitarian and human rights disaster, including loss of innocent lives and destruction of properties.”

The warning came on a day President Muhammadu Buhari was due in Banjul at the head of an ECOWAS delegation to persuade Jammeh to step down.

Yahya’s political party, in the latest gambit, has gone to court to halt the inauguration of Adama Barrow, on the basis that Jammeh’s challenge of the electoral result, has not been decided by the country’s Supreme Court.

The case was adjourned for months, because the court could not form a quorum.

Barrow’s party pledged on Friday that Jammeh would be honoured as a former head of state if he steps down and suggested he might not face trial for alleged crimes during his 22 years in power.

January 13, 2017
Gambia: President’s party seeks to block Barrow’s inauguration

The Political Party of Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh, filed a request on Friday with the Supreme Court for an injunction aimed at blocking the swearing in of his rival.

Jammeh lost an election last month and has refused to accept his defeat.

The question of whether Gambia can install opposition figure Adama Barrow as president is seen as a test case for African democracy in a region accustomed to coups and political unrest.

Barrow, who won the poll and has received the support of the international community, has said he will go ahead with his inauguration on Jan. 19 despite Jammeh’s rejection of the result.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, confirmed receipt of the petition, which was filed by Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC).

“It is filed today with the court registrar,’’ said Fagbenle, who did not say when a decision on the petition might be made.

Aziz Bensouda, the secretary general of the Gambia Bar Association, said an injunction would be unconstitutional.

“The inauguration of the president-elect should be held when Jammeh’s term officially ends the court does not have any mandate to put an inauguration on hold,’’ he said.

The election defeat of Jammeh, a former coup leader, after 22 years of increasingly authoritarian rule was celebrated across the tiny West African nation, and the incumbent initially accepted the result.

However, in a u-turn a week later that drew international condemnation, he denounced what he claimed was widespread fraud.

The APRC filed a challenge to the poll results, but the Supreme Court was unable to hear the petition after several judges failed to show up.

Fagbenle adjourned the hearing until January 16.

The Supreme Court, which rights campaigners say is heavily influenced by Jammeh, has not sat in over a year.

Two chief justices have been dismissed since 2013 and one of them was jailed.

The court hired four foreign judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone to hear Jammeh’s appeal legal sources said that the judges had not yet arrived in Gambia.

Regional bloc ECOWAS has sought to negotiate Jammeh’s peaceful departure and Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is leading a mediation mission to Gambia.

Nigeria’s lower house of parliament approved a motion to authorise Buhari to offer Jammeh asylum if he steps down.

However, ECOWAS has also hinted at possible military action if he stays beyond the end of his term in office next week, raising the prospect of violence.

The U.S. Department of State, which has already advised against travel to Gambia, warned American citizens to avoid the capital Banjul’s city centre.

Embassy staff was required to be off the streets by 6 p.m. (1800 GMT) until further notice.

January 13, 2017
Reps urge FG to offer Jammeh asylum in Nigeria

The House of Representatives on Thursday urged the Federal Government to consider asylum offer for Gambia President, Yahya Jammeh.

The House, however, advised Jammeh to respect the wish of the citizens of the country, who voted against him in the recent presidential election, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

It expressed support for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led diplomatic negotiations at stabilizing Gambia as the country grappled with political crisis resulting from the poll.

The resolutions of the lawmakers followed a motion by Sani Zorro (APC-Jigawa) which was adopted by members through a majority voice vote.

Moving the motion, Zorro had said the clock was ticking fast for the survival of democracy in Gambia and that there was the need to intensify preventive diplomacy to save the country.

According to him, Nigeria’s past leadership has played roles in restoring peace and settling conflicts in various Southern and West Africa nations, including Congo, Chad and Liberia.

He said Nigeria’s policy of extending safe haven to endangered African leaders had been part of the nation’s dispute settlement.

Zorro added that such gesture was extended to President Felix Malloun of Chad, Charles Taylor and Yomi Johnson, both of Liberia and others.

Supporting the motion, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje (PDP- Abia), said granting asylum to the embattled Gambian leader was in consonance with Nigeria’s foreign policy thrust.

January 12, 2017
Gambia: Jammeh’s poll challenge shifted to May

The Gambia’s Supreme Court is unable to hear the petition seeking to annul last month’s election until May, chief justice Emmanuel Fagbenle has said.

The Nigerian judge, due to oversee the seven-member panel, was not available till then, he said.

Longstanding ruler Yahya Jammeh, 51, initially accepted defeat but later rejected the result, the BBC reports.

It is not yet clear what will happen after Mr. Jammeh’s term ends on January 18.

President-elect Adama Barrow is due to be inaugurated the following day.

But Mr. Jammeh has said he will not step down and he has the support of the head of the army.

West African leaders, led by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, are due to in the capital, Banjul, on Friday in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to resolve the crisis.

The visit was originally scheduled for Wednesday.

But Mr. Jammeh has so far rebuffed their attempts, saying they have no right to interfere.

January 10, 2017