Banjul, Gambia | AFP | A Gambian protester died of gunshot wounds Saturday, the day after being shot as supporters of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh clashed with West African forces. Gambian information minister, Demba Ali Jawo, told AFP that a group of people had protested on Friday in Jammeh’s …
Read More »Gambia tackles sleazy image to diversify tourism
Gambia: Known until now to tourists mainly for muscular young men selling themselves on beaches to much older women from Europe Serrekunda, Gambia | AFP | For decades, The Gambia has built a reputation as a haven for tourists willing to pay for sun, sand, sea… and sex. But its tourism …
Read More »Gambia’s Jammeh ‘stole $50m’, assets frozen
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s longtime former ruler Yahya Jammeh stole at least $50-million from the state, the country’s justice minister said Monday, in the first major anti-corruption move by the country’s new president. It is the first time the new government of the small west African nations …
Read More »Gambia swears in several homegrown judges
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s president swore in six new judges to top courts Monday, with Gambians dominating the list in a country that long relied on foreign justices under the former regime. Courts were long seen as a tool used by The Gambia’s ex-leader Yahya Jammeh to …
Read More »Gambia gets female parliament speaker
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s first female barrister was sworn in Tuesday as National Assembly speaker, days after the African country’s United Democratic Party (UDP) emerged from decades in opposition to win an absolute parliamentary majority. Mariam Jack Denton, the first woman to be called to the Gambian Bar, …
Read More »Gambia elects MPs for post-Jammeh era
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Polls closed on Thursday evening in The Gambia with voters expected to usher in a new generation of lawmakers to scrutinise a raft of reforms promised by President Adama Barrow, in the first election since longtime leader Yahya Jammeh left power. Turnout was low when …
Read More »‘Executed’ Gambian coup plotters exhumed
jamm Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The bodies of three Gambian coup plotters, including a former US war veteran, have been found using intelligence from members of former leader Yahya Jammeh’s death squad, police told AFP on Saturday. Colonel Lamin Sanneh, who served in Jammeh’s presidential guard, Alagie Nyass and …
Read More »Gambia coalition near collapse over legislative election
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Gambian coalition parties which united last year to deliver the first new president in 22 years are unlikely to run together for legislative elections next month, a senior government source told AFP. President Adama Barrow said in January his coalition government would “continue as a …
Read More »Gambian journalists pressure govt after attack on reporter
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Journalists in The Gambia on Tuesday urged the country’s new leadership to uphold their pledge to respect media freedom after a violent public assault on a reporter by President Adama Barrow’s supporters. Kebba Jeffang, a journalist for Foroyaa newspaper, was hit, scratched and insulted at …
Read More »Rapper Akon in Gambia, lights up two African nations
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Cliched rappers spend money on bling and cars, but Senegalese-American artist Akon is looking skywards to splash his cash, investing in solar power projects across Africa. The rapper added The Gambia and Cape Verde to his Akon Lighting Africa initiative this weekend, a fund …
Read More »