The president and commander-in-chief of the Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) has once again underscored the indispensable role of the military in Africa’s development and progress, stressing that the continent’s armed forces is the only institution that “can end the carnage in Africa”.

His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh was speaking Wednesday evening at State House in Banjul, while receiving a 21-man delegation of directing staff and students from the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College. 

Gambia’s Justice Minister, Edward Gomez has been quoted issuing threats to exiled journalists and rights defenders, saying that they would be prosecuted if they returned for “painting a grim picture ” of the country.

According to a press release issued Monday by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Gomez, who was reacting to a publication in a privately-owned Daily News about an international campaign against the systematic human rights violations in the country, said : “we will wait here for them to come (home).”

The Justice Minister said the advocates were “evil members” of society” who have taken refuge abroad and were “putting every nonsensical story in newspapers and on radio to tarnish the good image of the government.”

L'ex-chef de l'armée gambienne et sept autres personnes, dont de hauts responsables militaires et des hommes d'affaires, ont été condamnés à mort, jeudi, à Banjul où ils étaient jugés pour une présumée tentative de coup d'Etat en 2009 contre le régime de Yahya Jammeh.

"Je déclare coupable tous les prévenus et les condamne à la peine de mort," a déclaré le juge Emmanuel Amabi.

The Gambia said on Saturday that it does not recognize Alassane Ouattara as president of Cote d’Ivoire after the arrest of his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, with the help of the UN and French forces.

"The Gambian government will not recognize any president, President Ouattara included, nor African government that has been imposed by forces outside the African continent, no matter the reason," says the statement.

The Gambian authorities on Thursday shut the only independent radio station in the nation that has continued to broadcast news, according to local journalists.

According to a press release issued by the New York-based media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday, quoting local journalists, said officials of the state security outfit, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) summoned Ismaila Ceesay, managing director of Taranga FM, a community radio station based in Sinchu Alhagie village, southwest of Banjul, for interrogation and ordered the station off the air until further notice.

Gambian lawyers are currently boycotting all the courts in the tiny West African nation following a decision by prosecutors at the state law office to charge one of their colleagues, Moses Richards with sedition and giving false information to a public officer, APA learns here on Wednesday.

The President of the Gambia Bar Association, Sheriff Tambedou is quoted by the Wednesday edition of the Foroyaa newspaper as saying that the Bar started their action on Monday10th of January to seek protection and respect for their professional activities and that they will resume their normal duties on Thursday 14th of January 2011. He said the decision was arrived after members of the Bar agreed that no lawyer will appear in any court in the Gambia during this period.

He went on to say that the reason for this protest was triggered by the recent arrest, detention and leveling of charges against Barrister Moses Richards and by extension to all of them as barristers. He said Barrister Richards wrote a letter to the Sheriff of the High Court acting on the instructions of his client which was information that was conveyed to him by his client.

Friday, June 04, 2010

The Gambian leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh Wednesday night conferred the prestigious award of Officer of the Republic of The Gambia ORG (honorary) on Tashawna S Bethea, political and economic officer at the American Embassy in Banjul, in recognition of her immense contributions towards the socio-economic development of The Gambia.