The Gambia

At the core of the country’s transition and stabilisation is revising the 1997 constitution to enable important institutional reforms that will redefine The Gambia’s politics and governance frameworks. This process is also key to the country’s security sector reform and transitional justice efforts, particularly in meeting the needs of victims of Jammeh’s rule. 

The election of President Adama Barrow was a win for democracy in Gambia. However, the arrest of journalists and government critics has raised concerns the West African nation could become a dictatorship once more.

Gambian authorities have foiled a military coup attempt and arrested four soldiers plotting to overthrow President Adama Barrow’s administration, the government said on Wednesday.

The Senegalese army says nine of its soldiers serving in a multinational peacekeeping force in The Gambia have gone “missing” and likely taken hostage by rebels from Senegal’s southern Casamance region following a clash.

On Tuesday, Ousainou Darboe’s United Democratic Party stated that it had petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the results over what it said was corruption and bribery that marred the campaign.

A long-awaited report into allegations of abuse committed during former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule has recommended to the government to pursue criminal charges against those responsible. The 14,000-page document was handed on Thursday by the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to President Adama Barrow, nine days before a presidential election in which the exiled Jammeh has urged his supporters to vote for an opposition coalition.

In a telephone address to thousands of his supporters gathered in his home village of Kanilai, Jammeh, who has been living in exile in Equatorial Guinea since his election defeat in 2016, declared himself as legitimate leader of his party and fired the leadership for forming an alliance with his successor.

The final report of Gambia's Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission was expected today, but may be further delayed. After nearly three years of transitional justice, the country remains divided, and reconciliation within communities has hardly been a priority.

President Adama Barrow asked ECOWAS to extend the mandate of its military intervention. The regional bloc has obliged. It may be a sign Barrow is expecting trouble over the rejection of a new constitution.

[…] The document, for the first time, introduces a presidential term limit in Africa’s smallest mainland nation. But President Adama Barrow’s supporters say his first five years in office, which end in 2021 -- an election year -- shouldn’t be counted.