On December 21, the Gambia’s government declared that an attempted military coup had been thwarted.
First attempt at overthrowing President Adama Barrow’s government after he deposed longtime leader Yahya Jammeh has failed.
Following a military operation, the Gambian Armed Forces High Command detained four soldiers believed to be involved in the suspected coup. For their alleged participation in the plot, three other suspects are wanted.
The declaration said;
“The Gambia government announces that based on intelligence reports that some soldiers of the Gambian army were plotting to overthrow the democratically elected Government of President Adama Barrow, the GAF High Command in a swift military operation conducted yesterday, arrested four soldiers linked to this alleged coup plot.”
Coup attempts are not uncommon in the Gambia, a West African country of 2.5 million almost entirely surrounded by Senegal, which is still reeling from over two decades under former president Yahya Jammeh marked by authoritarianism and alleged abuses.
Jammeh himself seized power in a coup in 1994 and foiled several attempts to overthrow him before he lost an election in late 2016 to Barrow.
