ECOWAS Removes Yahya Jammeh from The Gambia
Jammeh took power in a 1994 coup as a 29-year-old lieutenant and governed through disappearances, a claimed herbal cure for AIDS, and withdrawal from the Commonwealth and the International Criminal Court. He nonetheless permitted an election in December 2016, which opposition coalition candidate Adama Barrow won, and initially conceded on state television. His retraction a week later produced a rapid regional response. ECOWAS, chaired by Nigeria and driven by Senegal, which surrounds The Gambia on three sides, obtained African Union and UN Security Council backing and moved troops in on 19 January, hours after Barrow was sworn in at the Gambian embassy in Dakar. Jammeh left for Equatorial Guinea two days later, reportedly taking substantial state assets. A truth commission subsequently documented killings and torture and recommended his prosecution.
- Year: 2017 CE
- Category: Political
