ECOWAS Is Watching Gambia Events

The regional economic grouping ECOWAS will continue to monitor the political enviroment in the Gambia. The body’s areas of monitoring includes conducts of political parties, citizenry and the government’s reaction to events.

“We are concerned with recent happenings and we have been consulting with the headquarters and we are watching,” ECOWAS ambassador to The Gambia Vabah Gayflo told Nes Ghana. “We are advised to monitor the process,” she said.

The deployment of the ECOiWAS ntervention force in January last year forced defeated former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to flee the Gambia.

Ambassador Gayflo’s comments comes at a time when he West African nation is faced with security challenges. Apart from grappling with political fracas in eartly January, the coalition government of President Adama Barrow was last week bafled with the entry of two former Generals loyal to deposed Jammeh into the country without fingers being raised at the airport. Generals Ansumana Tamba and Umpa Mendy were arrested shortly after they left the airport. But their case was a wake up call for the governmet to beef up security in a country that is struggling to heal the wounds of two decades of brutal dictatorship.

Despite the shortfalls Ambassador Gayflo applaued the Gambia government for its timely interventions in dealing ith the political fracas that occurred in President Barrow’s home village of Mankamang Kunda in Upper River Region.

The ECOWAS currently has 500 peacekeeping troops trying to help keep peace in the Gambia. Ambassador Gayflo’s office is meeting with political parties next week to avoid the conflict from going out of hand.

Generals Tamba and Mendy, who flew from Equatorial Guinea after spening a year with Mr. Jammeh, remains in military custody. The government is yet to tell the public about why the two Jammeh henchmen made a surprise homecoming. Although investigations are onging, the military spokesman told The Point newspaper that the men have posed no security threats to the public.

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