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Tag: Yahya Jammeh

  • Gambia election: Early results show Yahya Jammeh trailing main rival

    Gambia election: Early results show Yahya Jammeh trailing main rival

    Partial results showed Gambia’s President, Yahya Jammeh, trailing his main rival in a presidential election on Friday, raising the prospect of an unprecedented upset for a leader who pledged to rule the West African nation for a billion years.

    According to media report, Jammeh’s rival, real estate developer Adama Barrow, had 44 per cent of the vote against Jammeh’s 40 per cent and 15 per cent for Mammah Kandeh.

    Multiple civil society sources released identical results on Twitter in spite of efforts by Gambian authorities to seal all forms of communication with the outside world, with 39 out of 53 constituencies counted.

    Gambians voted on Thursday amid total blackout of the Internet and all international calls, and with land borders sealed in a poll posing the first serious challenge to Jammeh since he seized power in a coup in 1994.

    Earlier this week, Jammeh said “my presidency and power are in the hands of Allah and only Allah can take it from him.”

    However, Gambia’s electoral commission head, Alieu Momarr Njai, told newsmen in Banjul that President Jammeh would concede defeat in an election, bringing a shock end to his 22 years in power since he staged a coup. 

  • Gambia declared Islamic Republic

    Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has declared his Muslim-majority country an Islamic republic, saying the move marks a break with the colonial past.

    Mr. Jammeh told state TV the proclamation was in line with Gambia’s “religious identity and values.”

    He added that no dress code would be imposed and citizens of other faiths would be allowed to practise freely.

    Some 90 per cent of Gambians are Muslim. The former British colony’s economy relies heavily on tourism.

    However, relations with the West have soured recently, the BBC reports.

    The European Union temporarily withheld aid money to Gambia last year over its poor human rights record.

    Mr. Jammeh has been president of the tiny West African country for 21 years.

    “As Muslims are the majority in the country, the Gambia cannot afford to continue the colonial legacy,” Mr. Jammeh told state TV, explaining his decision to proclaim an Islamic republic.

    Other Islamic republics include Iran, Pakistan and – in Africa, Mauritania.

    Mr. Jammeh withdrew Gambia from the Commonwealth in 2013, describing the organisation as neo-colonial.

    In 2007, he claimed to have found an herbal cure for Aids.

  • Gambia expels EU top diplomat

    Gambian government has expelled the European Union’s top diplomat in the West African state, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday, but gave no further details.

    Agnès Guillaud, the European Union’s chargée d’affaires in Banjul, who is acting in place of an ambassador, was asked to leave Gambia within 72 hours, according to the statement, which was read on Gambia national TV.

    The statement said the decision was effective Friday. No reason was given for the expulsion.

    EU officials were not immediately available to comment, Reuters reports.

    Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, 50, has ruled the tiny West African nation with a firm hand since he came to power in a coup some 20 years ago. He has stifled dissent and has faced increased criticism from abroad over issues ranging from human rights to claims he can cure AIDS.

    He has also cracked down on the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

    The EU blocked some 13 million euros in aid to Gambia in 2014 because of its poor human rights record, in particular anti-homosexual laws, and was debating whether to release some 150 million euros ($186 million) in aid this year.

  • Gambia’s President apologises for linking Britons to failed coup

    Gambian President Yahya Jammeh apologised to former colonial master Britain on Sunday for saying its nationals were involved in a failed coup attempt last month.

    Gunmen attempted to storm the presidential palace in the beachside capital of the West African nation overnight on December 30 while Jammeh was abroad, but were repelled by guards.

    In the immediate aftermath of the coup, Jammeh accused foreign-backed dissidents in Britain, the United States and Germany of mounting the attack, Reuters reports.

    However, on Sunday he withdrew the reference to Britons.

    “So far there is not a single Gambian or dissidents from Britain who came to join to them (the coup plotters); so I am very sorry,” Jammeh said on Monday in a speech before the armed forces near his palace.

    Prosecutors in the United States have charged a Texas businessman with bankrolling and trying to lead the coup with the support of a former U.S Army sergeant. No details of any German involvement in the coup have emerged so far.

    Gambia, whose borders are fabled to have been fixed by cannonballs fired from a British warship on the eponymous river, is a popular destination for European tourists.

    But despite the economic ties, 49-year-old Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, faces growing Western pressure over alleged human rights abuses.

    In an apparent jab at the former coloniser, Jammeh said in the same speech: “If God says so I will be very happy to rule Britain. After all they ruled us, so if I can rule them, if Gambia can rule them, that will be the biggest gift.”

    Jammeh, who typically wears a large white African tunic called a boubou and carries prayer beads, has earned a reputation in the West for colourful speeches.

    He once claimed publicly to have personally found a cure for AIDS and told the BBC that he would rule for “a billion years.”

  • Coup fallout: Gambia president replaces justice minister

    Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has replaced Minister of Justice, Basiru Mahoney, in the second cabinet reshuffle since soldiers attempted to seize power in the tiny West African state late last month while Jammeh was out of the country.

    State television gave no reason in its announcement late on Thursday for the removal of Mahoney and his replacement by Aboubacarr Senghore, former minister for higher education, research, science and technology.

    Jammeh also replaced Kalilou Bayo, secretary general and minister for presidential affairs and the civil service, with Lamin Nyabally, Reuters reports.

    Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, has accused foreign-based dissidents of fomenting the coup bid. Security forces have made arrests but few details have been released, stoking fears in a country regularly accused of human rights violations.

    Prosecutors in the United States on Monday charged a Texas businessman with bankrolling and trying to lead the coup with the support of a former U.S Army sergeant.

    Jammeh replaced the ministers for foreign affairs, information and transport earlier this week, also without giving a reason.

  • Gambia president returns home amidst reports of attempted coup

    Gambia president returns home amidst reports of attempted coup

    Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh arrived back in Banjul on Wednesday, official sources said, one day after gunfire erupted around the presidential palace and the government denied media reports of a coup attempt.

    Jammeh was in France or Dubai when violence broke out and he returned home via N’Djamena, where he told Chad officials during a refueling stop on Tuesday evening that he planned to return home.

    Jammeh, 49, took power in a coup 20 years ago and since then has stifled dissent in his impoverished West African nation.

    He has come under increasing criticism from abroad over issues ranging from human rights abuses to his claims he can cure AIDS, Reuters says.

    Banks reopened on Wednesday, people headed to work and the city’s key Denton Bridge was also open, witnesses said.

    On Tuesday, state radio played traditional music and an announcer read a government statement playing down the incident.

    “Contrary to rumours being circulated, peace and calm continue to prevail in The Gambia,” it said. “(The) government would like to urge the public and all businesses to continue with their normal activities.”

    Gambia, a splinter of land wedged into Senegal, has ocean beaches that attract tourists, particularly during the northern hemisphere’s winter. They include about 60,000 Britons a year. The British foreign office advised its citizens to stay indoors and avoid public gatherings.

    Witnesses in the centre of Banjul, which is situated on an island and connected to rest of the city by the Denton Bridge, said on Tuesday that security forces were stationed on street corners and patrolled streets after hours of shooting earlier in the day.

     

  • Nigeria, Gambia push for democratisation of UN Security Council

    Nigeria, Gambia push for democratisation of UN Security Council

    President Goodluck Jonathan and his Gambian counterpart, President Yahya Jammeh, yesterday restated Africa’s demand for the urgent reformation of the United Nations Organisation.

    The two leaders, according to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, to President Jonathan Dr. Reuben Abati, made the call when they met in Banjul during Jonathan’s state visit.

    A communique at the end of their meeting reads: “The two presidents reiterated the need for the reformation of the Security Council and the United Nations System in its entirety so as to reflect current realities.”

    “They expressed their conviction that the African continent should be equitably represented in world governance through a better presence on the Security Council and in agencies of the United Nations.”

    Jonathan had earlier thanked President Jammeh and Gambia for conceding West-Africa’s non-permanent seat in the United Nations’ Security Council for 2014-2015 to Nigeria.

    He assured the Gambian leader that Nigeria will effectively represent and promote the interests of West Africa and Africa during its tenure on the Security Council.

    They also agreed on the need for African leaders to take more concerted action to accelerate the pace of regional and continental economic integration.

    Both leaders called for faster action towards the removal of obstacles and impediments to greater intra-regional and intra-continental trade and economic activities in Africa.

    They also called for the urgent re-invigoration, rationalisation and harmonisation of Regional Economic Communities in Africa as a necessary step towards full continental economic integration.

    At the bilateral level, they resolved to strengthen and re-energise the Nigeria-Gambia Joint Commission with a view to diversifying and strengthening cooperation between the two countries in all the sectors.

    They also analysed other prevailing regional, continental and international problems such as the state of affairs in Guinea-Bissau, Syria and the Middle-East.

    The two presidents reiterated the call for a speedy return to constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau in accordance with the pertinent decisions adopted by ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations.

    During the visit, President Jonathan commissioned the new Chancery building of the Nigerian High Commission in Banjul and also met with members of the Nigerian community in The Gambia.