On December 1st 2016 (1/12/16) the Gambia held a Presidential election. The three candidates were;
- Yahya Jammeh representing the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC). Jammeh was the incumbent having seized power in a 1994 coup.
- Adama Barrow representing the "Coalition 2016" coalition of seven Gambian political parties as a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP).
- Mammah Kandeh a former member of the APRC who stood in this election representing the Gambian Democratic Congress (GDC).
- Adama Barrow - 227,708 (43.3%),
- Yahya Jammeh - 208, 487 (39.6%)
- Mammah Kandeh - 89,768 (17.1%).
On December 2nd 2016 (2/12/16) Yahya Jammeh conceded defeat and telephoned Adama Barrow telling him; "You are elected president of The Gambia, and I wish you all the best."
However then Jammeh seemed to realise that giving up the Presidency would also mean giving up his immunity from prosecution. As a man who has jailed and murdered dozens of political opponents that could cause Jammeh quite a lot of problems.
So on December 9th 2016 (9/12/16) Jammeh appeared on television to announce that he was disputing the election the result and would not leave until Gambia's Supreme Court had ruled on the matter.
The problem is that Gambia hasn't had a functioning Supreme Court since May 2015 when Jammeh dismissed the six Judges who sit on it along with the Chief Justice. The Gambia currently doesn't even have its own Chief Justice having been forced to borrow Emmanuel Oluwasegun Fagbenle from Nigeria.
With the Supreme Court being unable to rule on the election result Jammeh saying that he will not step down until the Supreme Court rules is the same as Jammeh saying that he will not step down. Jammeh reinforced this message by deploying the Gambian military to key locations across the country on December 10th 2016 (10/12/16).
On December 12th 2016 (12/12/16) the Gambian bar association held an emergency meeting. They passed a resolution declaring Jammeh's refusal to accept the election result to be tantamount to treason and called on Chief Justice Fagbenle to resign for gross misconduct both by campaigning for Jammeh prior to the election and secretly appointing ineligible Judges to the Supreme Court after the election.
The Gambian bar association were joined by similar calls from the University of Gambia, the Gambian teachers union, the Gambian medical association, the Gambian press union and the Gambia's Supreme Islamic Council.
On December 13th 2016 (13/12/16) Jammeh sent the Gambian security forces to storm the offices of the Electoral Commission. They closed down those offices and expelled many of the commission's employees from the country.
On January 1st & 2nd 2017 (1&2/1/17) the Gambian National Intelligence Agency shut down several radio private stations to prevent them reporting that Barrow had won the election. On January 10th 2017 (10/1/17) Jammeh dismissed 12 Gambian Ambassadors for recognising the election of Barrow effectively expelling them from the country.
On January 17th 2017 (17/1/17) - the day before his mandate expired - Jammeh imposed a 90 day State of Emergency. It was around this time that Barrow himself was forced to flee the Gambia for Senegal fearing for his safety.
Yesterday - January 19th 2017 (19/1/17) Adama Barrow was sworn in as Gambia's President as scheduled at a formal ceremony at the Gambian Embassy in Senegal which is considered Gambian sovereign territory.
Adama Barrow's first act as Gambian President was to call on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to assist the Gambian people in removing Yahya Jammeh from the Presidential Palace in the Gambia's capital Banjul where he is now nothing more than a squatter. This call was immediately answered by Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have also considered Barrow's request for assistance. It recognised him as the President on the Gambia and called on Jammeh to vacate the Presidential Palace. However it stopped short of authorising military action.
That is because under the UN Charter the territorial integrity of nation - it's borders - and it's sovereignty - what happens within those borders - are considered to be almost inviolable. The only way the UNSC can authorise military action is under Chapter 7. The messes we have seen in Libya, Syria and Yemen show that Chapter 7 should only ever be used as an absolute last resort.
In this case though Chapter 7 is something that is most certainly on the table for discussion
Also there is no need for the UNSC to authorise military action. With Adama Barrow being the President of the Gambia this is viewed as him merely asking his allies - on behalf of the Gambian people - to help solve an internal security problem. That is something the Gambian President is fully entitled to do under the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Following the UNSC meeting the ECOWAS troops did cross into the Gambia. They paused their advance until 12:00 GMT today in order to give Jammeh one last chance to peacefully step aside.
The head of the Gambian military Ousman Badjie has since come out and said that he will not send his force of roughly 2,700 men to fight for Jammeh. He then proceeded to go out and dance in the streets in celebration of Barrow's inauguration.
The remaining concern though is that without the protection of the armed forces Jammeh will still attempt to send his supporters into the streets to resist the transition of power. Both by attacking the advancing ECOWAS troops and Barrow's supporters.
It is worth noting though that nearly 36% of the people of the Gambia voted to get Jammeh out of power while only 23% voted to keep him.
Even amongst those who voted for Jammeh many of them understand that if you lose an election then you have to leave power. Otherwise there is no point having elections.
13:30 on 20/1/17 (UK date).
Edited at around 15:20 on 21/1/17 (UK date) to add;
Well this is embarrassing.
Particularly if you live in somewhere like Britain and you work outside you know that you must never, ever utter the phrase; "Well at least it's not raining."
Likewise if you have troops assembled ready to go into action you never tempt fate by saying; "This is going to be easy."
However I was rather confident that attempts to evict Yahya Jammeh from Gambia's Presidential Palace would run relatively smoothly. That's because there is a hidden hand of conspiracy coordinating efforts. Albeit a clumsy one it is one I know well - Britain's MI6.
In October 2013 Yahya Jammeh withdrew the Gambia from the UK Commonwealth. Having lived in London, UK Adama Barrow has promised that as President he will restore the Gambia's membership of the UK Commonwealth.
The big plan behind the UK leaving the European Union (EU) in the Brexit is that it will allow the UK to trade more freely with the Commonwealth. So the Gambia returning to being a member of the Commonwealth is probably more important to the UK than it is to the Gambia.
Between 19:00 and 19:25 (GMT) last night someone entered the grounds of my property and smashed in a wooden door of one of the outbuildings. With nothing being stolen this was intended to send the coded message that Britain would soon smash down the door of the Gambia's Presidential Palace and force Jammeh out.
Rather than being intimidated or being angry in response to this I have to say that I was too busy being stunned by one of what has to be one of the dumbest moves I have ever seen.
Yahya Jammeh is an absolute chancer. He will try and use anything in a desperate effort to cling to power.
For example back in December 2016 he noticed that people in UN circles were using him to discuss that other Islamist dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Jammeh's calculation was that this would help him stay in power because people at the UN would enjoy having him around to keep the conversation going.
Yesterday the ECOWAS forcing announced that they were halting their advance until 12:00 (GMT) to give Jammeh one last chance to vacate the Presidential Palace.
In itself this timing was extremely clumsy because every day at that time I tend to be on the Internet to catch up on the overnight night developments. With the wars in Syria and Iraq both at critical stages much as I'd like too I can't really take a full day off from the Internet. Not least because it was only by logging on to Twitter that I found out about this midday ultimatum.
Rather predictably Jammeh exploited the tension of the situation to get the deadline extended to 16:00 (GMT). This is the moment that Donald Trump's inauguration as US President began. Jammeh was obviously hoping the tension of that would allow him to exert pressure on those pleading with him to go.
Although the ceremony began at 16:00 it wasn't until 17:00 (GMT) Donald Trump was actually sworn in. It was at this moment Jammeh assured the ECOWAS representatives that he would vacate the Presidential Palace. He just needed a few more hours to assemble his government, prepare a public address and say his goodbyes.
Announcing two hours into that window that the UK is staging a coup in the Gambia is exactly the sort of thing that would allow Jammeh to call his supporters to the streets to resist the coup using the anti-Colonist banner which is so popular amongst African leaders such as Robert Mugabe and Julius Malema.
About an hour after I went to bed this morning Jammeh took to the TV screens to once again assure the Gambian people that he is leaving. No timescale for this departure was given but the rumours I've heard suggest that Jammeh is demanding a three day extension which will take us up to Monday January 23rd 2017 (23/1/17).
Jammeh's hope is that this will be enough time for him to rally supporters to the streets to resist the old colonial master and their puppet.
Obviously at this point it is extremely tempting for me to just stab Britain in the eye as punishment. However I should probably make two things clear;
Firstly Britain's attempts to remove Jammeh only began after Jammeh refused to honour the result of the election. Britain did not rig that election and Jammeh himself has said Adama Barrow won fair and square.
Secondly I considered all this before deciding to support efforts to remove Jammeh. Hence the slight delay.
16:05 on 21/1/17 (UK date).
No comments:
Post a Comment