AFRICA

Ousman Sonko, a top member of the repressive Gambian regime of ousted president, Yahya Jammeh, has applied for refugee protection in Switzerland, Bern’s police chief confirmed on Wednesday, 25 January. Sonko, a former long-serving interior minister, has been staying in an asylum centre in Bern since November 2016, police chief Hans-Juerg Kaeser said. The ex-minister, who fled Gambia after Jammeh …

There are no facts yet to back the widely circulated claims that Gambia’s ex-ruler Yahya Jammeh looted millions of dollars from the country’s treasury before leaving for exile, a spokesman of President Adama Barrow has revealed. Speaking on BBC Newsday late night programme on Sunday from Banjul, Halifa Sallah, the chief spokesman for Gambia’s new government, said no government institution …

It has not been the most positive of times in Nigeria considering the current economic climate, but every now and then a story will pop up and lift the spirits of the country. Tomisin Ogunnubi from Lagos has provided such a story for her nation in Answers Africa. The 12-year-old girl from Lagos has developed an app to solve a …

Gambia’s former president, Yahya Jammeh, finally left Banjul, the country’s capital, Saturday (21 January) night into a new life in exile in Equatorial Guinea. Before agreeing to step down and leave the country to allow the new president, Adama Barrow, to take over, Jammeh signed a Joint Agreement with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU) …

After a military standoff and a flurry of diplomatic activities following last month’s presidential election, former President Yahya Jammeh finally left The Gambia late Saturday for a new life in exile. To avoid military confrontation with Senegalese-led ECOWAS troops, he had agreed on Friday to step down and leave the country after two days of marathon negotiations with Presidents Alpha …

Fellow Gambians, my first preoccupation, as president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and a patriot and the most sacred at that is to preserve at every instance and in every circumstance the lives of Gambians and this is a duty I hold sacrosanct. I have always pride for peace and security of our nation and Africa. During this entire …

“I have decided today in good conscience to relinquish the mantle of leadership of this great nation with infinite gratitude to all Gambians,” Yahya Jammeh said in a late night address on state television yesterday [Friday, 20 January]. The man who has ruled The Gambia for the past 22 years has finally agreed to give up power and leave the …

With the swearing in of President Adama Barrow yesterday in Dakar, Senegal, The Gambia now has an internationally recognized leader. Analysts say the event signalled the end of the presidency of Yahya Jammeh. He is now effectively a rebel leader and all efforts are being made to persuade him to vacate the State House in Banjul and leave the country. …

President-elect Adama Barrow has announced that he would be sworn in today at the Embassy of The Gambia in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.  The constitutional term of office of former President Yahya Jammeh elapsed at midnight yesterday (18 January). “I would like to inform you that the Inauguration Ceremony is going to take place at the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal,” …

Any hopes that the lingering Gambian election crisis could peacefully be resolved have now vanished as President Yahya Jammeh yesterday [17 January]  declared a 90-day state of emergency. In a TV address to the nation, the embattled leader whose term of office expires at midnight on Wednesday, 18 January said the measure was necessary to avoid a power vacuum, insisting …

Germany plans to step up its engagement within the framework of the MINUSMA peacekeeping mission, with deployment, not earlier than March 2017, of combat and transport helicopters and up to 350 additional soldiers. The new mandate was adopted by the cabinet on 11 January  and still needs to be approved by the German Bundestag. In 2012, Islamist groups managed to …

Gambia’s Supreme Court has refused to stop the inauguration of President-elect Adama Barrow. Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle yesterday declined to hear a petition brought by President Yahya Jammeh, seeking an injunction “restraining Mr Barrow, the Chief Justice of the Gambia or any judicial or quasi-judicial officer or any person in whatever capacity whatsoever to preside over the swearing-in or inauguration on …

Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have issued a 19 January deadline for the resolution of the Gambian political crisis. The leaders made the decision on the Gambian political crisis at the weekend where they met at the fringes of the 27th Africa-France summit in Mali’s capital Bamako. They repeated their calls on President …

The African Union (AU) will cease to recognise Yahya Jammeh as Gambia’s president as of 19 January, when his mandate expires, the organisation’s Peace and Security Council said on Friday, 13 January. The decision comes as West African leaders failed in a last-ditch effort to persuade Jammeh to accept his election defeat to opposition candidate Adama Barrow and step down. …

Last ditch attempt by regional leaders to persuade Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh to give up power peacefully at the end of his term have ended in Banjul without any breakthrough. According reports, Presidents Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and ex-President Mahama of Ghana were unable to convince Mr Jammeh to respect last month’s election results and facilitate …

Gambia’s embattled President Yayah Jammeh today, 11 January appointed a mediator to facilitate meetings between himself and president-elect Adama Barrow. The ruling party’s secretary general will mediate between Jammeh’s supporters and the opposition to “resolve any mistrust and issues,” Jammeh said in a televised address to the nation early today. He refuses to accept the election result because it was …

“Liberians are telling the world that the causes of the long civil wars are still there and they have genuine fears of their country returning to violence,” said Jennifer Overton, Regional Director for CRS in West Africa. “We now have some very specific key indicators for potential risks of conflict. But we have to address them now.”

No show at the Gambia’s Supreme Court today as expected. The much-awaited sitting of the court over the petition filed by President Yahya Jammeh, challenging the results of the 1 December presidential election which he lost to opposition coalition candidate Adama Barrow, has been suspended. Gambia’s apex court could not form a quorum as only one judge was present. A …

President Muhammadu Buhari will lead a delegation of ‎the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)‎, to The Gambia on Wednesday, 11 January. The trip is seen as a last-ditch attempt to resolve the political impasse in the country. The decision to undertake the trip was taken on Monday, 9 January in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja, following an extra-ordinary meeting …

West African leaders are not ready yet to send troops as they negotiate with President Jammeh to relinquish power, Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has announced. The crisis in The Gambia is becoming more complex as the 19 January handover date approaches. In a surprise development, Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told reporters on Saturday in Accra that ECOWAS leaders …