Gambia

[Greed]

US removes Gambia from trade agreement
Associated Press
By Associated Press
December 24, 2014 5:45 PM

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Activists have praised the U.S. government's decision to remove Gambia from a trade agreement in response to human rights abuses, including a law signed in October that imposes life imprisonment for some homosexual acts.

The White House announced Gambia's termination as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act late Tuesday, without specifying a reason.

A spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative said Wednesday that the decision was made in response to general concerns about human rights in the West African nation, including the anti-gay law.

"The U.S. Trade Representative has been monitoring the human rights situation in The Gambia for the past few years, with deepening concerns about the lack of progress with respect to human rights, rule of law, political pluralism, and the right to due process," Trevor Kincaid said.

President Yahya Jammeh, who assumed power in 1994, is regularly criticized for abuses, including disappearances and executions. He is one of Africa's most vocal anti-gay leaders and has previously threatened to behead sexual minorities found in his country.

Following signing of the anti-gay law in October, security forces carried out a spate of arrests targeting people accused of committing homosexual acts. State media said Monday that three more men were about to be charged.

Local organizations such as the Coalition for Change have praised the U.S. move, as has the U.S.-based Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights organization.

"This decision is an important first step in sending a clear signal to President Yahya Jammeh and his associates about their human rights record, and they cannot be allowed to trample on the rights of LGBT Gambians," said Jean Freedberg, deputy director of HRC Global.

South Sudan was also removed from the trade agreement over human rights concerns related to that country's ongoing conflict, Kincaid said.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-removes-gambia-trade-agreement-191149313--finance.html

 

[Greed]

Gambia president returns home after reports of coup attempt

Gambia president returns home after reports of coup attempt
Reuters
December 31, 2014 8:21 AM

BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh returned to Banjul on Wednesday and shops and banks reopened, a day after gunfire erupted around the presidential palace and the government had to deny media reports of a coup attempt.

In a sign of heightened security, government forces set up three checkpoints on the Denton Bridge into the capital to search people as they headed into work and check identity papers, witnesses said.

There was no word from Jammeh or the government in the aftermath of the turmoil but the United States on Tuesday called for calm amid concern expressed by a diplomat about possible reprisals.

"We strongly condemn any attempt to seize power through extra-constitutional means, and we call for calm and for all parties to refrain from further violence," said a State Department spokesman in Washington.

Jammeh was in France or Dubai when violence broke out and officials said he returned home via a refuelling stop in the capital of Chad.

Jammeh, 49, took power in a coup 20 years ago and since then has stifled dissent in his impoverished West African nation of 1.9 million. He has faced increasing criticism from abroad over issues ranging from human rights to his claim he can cure AIDS.

The government foiled a coup plot in March 2006 and Amnesty International said in the wake of that incident it feared some of the alleged coup plotters may have been executed without trial.

On Tuesday the capital was in lockdown and state radio played traditional music. An announcer read a government statement playing down the incident, details of which remained unclear.

Gambia's national territory comprises a splinter of land wedged into Senegal and facing the Atlantic. Senegalese police said on Wednesday Gambia's borders remained open.

The country attract tourists, particularly during the northern hemisphere's winter. They include about 60,000 Britons a year. The British foreign office advised its citizens to stay indoors and avoid public gatherings.

Witnesses in central Banjul, which is on an island and connected to rest of the city by Denton Bridge, said on Tuesday that security forces were stationed on street corners and patrolled streets after several hours of shooting earlier in the day.

This year the European Union withdrew millions of dollars in aid after Jammeh signed into law an act that could imprison homosexuals for life. In 2012, he was criticised for executing nine people being held in prison.

https://news.yahoo.com/gambia-president-returns-home-reports-attempted-coup-082336620.html

 

[Greed]

US charges two over failed Gambia coup

US charges two over failed Gambia coup
AFP By Michael Mathes
59 minutes ago

Washington (AFP) - US prosecutors on Monday charged two men with conspiring to overthrow the government of Gambia in a failed coup ostensibly aimed at restoring democracy to the small west African nation.

US-Gambian dual national Papa Faal and US resident Cherno Njie were arrested in the United States after they returned from Gambia, where they had travelled to help launch a December 30 coup attempt against President Yahya Jammeh's government, according to the US Justice Department.

Faal, 46, was expected to make an initial appearance in court Monday in his home state of Minnesota, while Njie, 57, living in Texas, was to appear Monday in US District Court in Baltimore, Maryland.

"These defendants stand accused of conspiring to carry out the violent overthrow of a foreign government, in violation of US law," US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

"The United States strongly condemns such conspiracies. With these serious charges, the United States is committed to holding them fully responsible for their actions."

According to a criminal complaint released by the Justice Department, an FBI agent interviewed Faal, who described his own participation "as a member of a group of fighters responsible for the attempted coup."

Faal also identified Njie as one of the coup's leaders and main financiers, and told the FBI agent that "Njie was also planning to serve as the interim leader of The Gambia upon the successful completion of the coup."

The men are charged with conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act, which prohibits US citizens or residents from taking up arms or plotting against a nation at peace with America, and conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Last month's attack was repelled by security forces, and at least three suspected attackers died during the fighting, according to unconfirmed reports.

On January 1, strongman Jammeh -- who has ruled Gambia with an iron fist for 20 years -- blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and "terrorists" for the assault on his presidential palace.

- 'Willing to shoot' president -

The criminal complaint details a plot cobbled together by men of Gambian origin including Faal, who had not lived in Gambia for 23 years but agreed to join the movement last August because he grew angry with the way "the president was rigging elections."

According to Faal, the group had planned to ambush Jammeh's convoy as he toured the country around the Christmas holiday.

"They hoped the president would surrender, but were willing to shoot him if he fired at them," Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Nicholas Marshall, who interviewed Faal, said in his affidavit.

When Jammeh opted instead to travel outside Gambia, the plotters changed course and attacked State House, where they were repelled.

During the planning stages, Faal and other plotters had each purchased eight guns including semi-automatic rifles in the United States, packed them into barrels and illegally shipped them to Gambia last year to be used in the coup effort.

Thirty guns were shipped, as well as body armor and night-vision goggles.

Faal said he believed a larger group would travel to Gambia but that ultimately only 10 to 12 went to carry out the coup, "including some members from the United Kingdom."

Njie, a businessman in Texas, held back from the doomed fighting in Gambia because he was to be installed as interim leader.

He returned to the United States on Saturday and was immediately arrested. He refused to be interviewed by the FBI.

According to the complaint, a search of Njie's Texas property found a document entitled "Gambia Reborn: A Charter for Transition from Dictatorship to Democracy and Development."

https://news.yahoo.com/us-charges-two-over-failed-gambia-coup-160517206.html

 

[GhostofMarcus]

Re: Gambia President states you cacs and homos can kiss his ass.

This is a good interview.


Face to Face - Gambian president talks about rice plan (P.1) Dec.18,2014


Face to Face - Gambian president talks about rice plan (P.2) Dec.18,2014