Adama Barrow Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish https://jjcornish.com/tag/adama-barrow/ The low down on African affairs Thu, 05 Dec 2019 22:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://i0.wp.com/jjcornish.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-Fountain_Pen_favicon-812.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Adama Barrow Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish https://jjcornish.com/tag/adama-barrow/ 32 32 At least 62 Gambian migrants drown off Mauritania https://jjcornish.com/2019/12/at-least-62-gambian-migrants-drown-off-mauritania/ Thu, 05 Dec 2019 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2019/12/at-least-62-gambian-migrants-drown-off-mauritania/ Gambian President Adama Barrow has expressed his deep sorrow at the deaths of at least 62 compatriots off the coast of Mauritania. He’s under pressure to find and punish the people traffickers who left over 150 people tossing around the Atlantic in an overcrowded boat for more than a week. When the boat capsized, 83 […]

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Gambian President Adama Barrow has expressed his deep sorrow at the deaths of at least 62 compatriots off the coast of Mauritania.

He’s under pressure to find and punish the people traffickers who left over 150 people tossing around the Atlantic in an overcrowded boat for more than a week.

When the boat capsized, 83 people managed to swim ashore to Mauritania.

This left at least 62, including women and children, drowned.

Mauritanian Interior Minister Mohamed Salem ould Merzoug said they had done all they could in the rescue operation and providing emergency medical aid to the survivors.

Tens of thousands of young Gambians have made the perilous trip up the bulge of Africa, hoping to find political and economic security in Europe.

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Yahya Jammeh not as secure in Equatorial Guinea as originally thought https://jjcornish.com/2018/01/yahya-jammeh-not-secure-equatorial-guinea-originally-thought/ Thu, 18 Jan 2018 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2018/01/yahya-jammeh-not-secure-equatorial-guinea-originally-thought/ Defeated Gambian leader Yayha Jammeh’s exile on Equatorial Guinea may not be as pleasurable – or as secure – as it first appeared. His host, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema says he’s consider any extradition request for Jammeh from the Gambia. At least twice last year, Gambia’s new President Adama Barrow said he’s considering asking Equatorial […]

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Defeated Gambian leader Yayha Jammeh’s exile on Equatorial Guinea may not be as pleasurable – or as secure – as it first appeared.

His host, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema says he’s consider any extradition request for Jammeh from the Gambia.

At least twice last year, Gambia’s new President Adama Barrow said he’s considering asking Equatorial Guinea to send Yahya Jammeh home to face charges of human rights abuses and crimes against the state.

The fact that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has not ruled it out completely is seen as threatening to Jammeh.

He left Gambia a year ago after losing elections and then being forced out by pressure from the country’s neighbors.

Jammeh is reportedly deeply isolated and restricted in Equatorial Guinea where he’s farming cacao and plantains.

 

 

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Gambians voting in parliamentary election https://jjcornish.com/2017/04/gambian-voting-parliamentary-election/ Wed, 05 Apr 2017 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2017/04/gambian-voting-parliamentary-election/ Gambians are voting today n their first election since turning out strongman Yahya Jammeh more than five months ago. The turn out for National Assembly poll is lower than than that for the presidential election. ends into Nine political parties have fielded a record number of 239 registered candidates campaigning for 48 seats. Gambia has […]

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Gambians are voting today n their first election since turning out strongman Yahya Jammeh more than five months ago.

The turn out for National Assembly poll is lower than than that for the presidential election.

ends into

Nine political parties have fielded a record number of 239 registered candidates campaigning for 48 seats.

Gambia has more than 800 000 registered voters.

Five MPs will be appointed by President Adama Barrow to make up the 53-seat parliament.

The election is the  first major political challenge to Barrow who needs a  majority in the National Assembly to conduct host of legal and constitutional reforms.

He’s leading a coalition of seven parties.

The election’s  being monitored by dozens observers from the African Union, European Union and officials of the regional economic bloc, ECOWAS.

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Boris Johnson makes his first African trip as British foreign secretary https://jjcornish.com/2017/02/boris-johnson-makes-first-african-trip-british-foreign-secretary/ Mon, 13 Feb 2017 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2017/02/boris-johnson-makes-first-african-trip-british-foreign-secretary/ Boris Johnson, who notoriously sparked fury over comments about Africans made when he worked as a journalist, is visiting the continent for the first time as Britain’s foreign secretary. He has used racist terms to belittle Africans and just last October he referred to Africa as that country. Boris Johnson is visiting Gambia which made […]

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Boris Johnson, who notoriously sparked fury over comments about Africans made when he worked as a journalist, is visiting the continent for the first time as Britain’s foreign secretary.

He has used racist terms to belittle Africans and just last October he referred to Africa as that country.

Boris Johnson is visiting Gambia which made recent headlines when President Yayha Jammeh tried to cling to power have lost an election won by President Adama Barrow.

Johnson says he’s delighted to be the first British foreign secretary to visit Gambia since its independence 51 years ago.

He’ll tell President Barrow, a former supermarket security guard in Britain, that  Gambia will soon be able to rejoin the Commonwealth.

From Gambia, Johnson will move to Ghana for talks with President Nana Akufo Addo.

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Jammeh’s departure from Gambia is an African success story https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/jammehs-departure-gambia-african-success-story/ Tue, 24 Jan 2017 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/jammehs-departure-gambia-african-success-story/ By Jean-Jacques Cornish The bloodless and belated departure of Yayha Jammeh after he lost an election in Gambia is an undoubted African success story. Even the light-fingered denouement – with Jammeh taking $11 million from the state coffers into exile with him – has not taken the icing off the cake. That decorative delicacy was […]

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By Jean-Jacques Cornish

The bloodless and belated departure of Yayha Jammeh after he lost an election in Gambia is an undoubted African success story.

Even the light-fingered denouement – with Jammeh taking $11 million from the state coffers into exile with him – has not taken the icing off the cake.

That decorative delicacy was provided by the intervention of neighbours of this thin silver of a country that has just experienced its first democratic change of government.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made it immediately clear to Jammeh that it would not tolerate his staying in power when he contested the fairness of the December 1 election he lost, by his own admission, to Adama Barrow.

It made a number of unsuccessful demarches on Jammeh, urging him to step down before the victor’s scheduled inauguration date of January 19.

Jammeh declined offers of asylum in Senegal, Morocco, Mauritania and Guinea.

He hoped to wait around for the supreme court to consider his arguments about the unfairness of the election.

The court reminded him that he sacked half the judges last year and said they would be able to consider the matter before May.

ECOWAS decided to play hard ball. The grouping sought approval by the United Nations Security Council to use force, if necessary, to move Jammeh.

Senegal, which surrounds Gambia on three sides, and Ghana, moved troops to the border to show the region’s seriousness.

If Jammeh  had any doubt of this, the ECOWAS forces crossed the frontier and deployed in the capital Banjul.

They gave Jammeh a deadline of noon last Friday to either go or be forcibly removed.

The defeated president successfully requested an extension of this deadline while he spoke to Presidents Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz of Mauritania and Alpha Conde of Guinea.

He’s been abandoned by key members of his cabinet and finally by his military commander.

The game was up for this man who took power in a bloodless coup 22 years ago.

Eventually Jammeh loaded a string of luxury cars onto a Chadian cargo plane.

Then, seen off by a small group of hardliner, he boarded a plane with President Conde and headed for Guinea.

Gambian, who could not believe their good fortune had been demonstrating their delight at Jammeh’s imminent departure for day.

They cheered ECOWAS troops patrolling the capital.

Barrow, who was inaugurated at the Gambian embassy in Senegal, says he will go home within the next week once his security can be assured.

He has his work cut out tracing the $11 million that Jammeh looted from the public purse.

He also has to get back the tourists who are vital to Gambia’s economy.

Alone with more than 46 000 Gambians, the tourists quit  the country when military action to move Jammeh looked likely.

So, chalk one up to ECOWAS’s unlinking determination to see that democracy triumphed.

Consider too the benefits of other African regional groups showing the same courage and application against the hard-to-move leaders who have cynically disregarded their constitutional limitations on power.

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Adama Barrow due to go home to Gambia tomorrow https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/adama-barrow-due-go-home-gambia-tomorrow/ Tue, 24 Jan 2017 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/adama-barrow-due-go-home-gambia-tomorrow/ Officials in Gambia new government say President Adama Barrow will go home from neighboring Senegal tomorrow. This means he arrive back in Gambia week after being inaugurated at his country’s embassy in Senegal, where he had been sheltering for his safety. Adama Barrow will have to hit the ground running as Gambia’s new president. He […]

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Officials in Gambia new government say President Adama Barrow will go home from neighboring Senegal tomorrow.

This means he arrive back in Gambia week after being inaugurated at his country’s embassy in Senegal, where he had been sheltering for his safety.

Adama Barrow will have to hit the ground running as Gambia’s new president.

He has a raft of reforms to pass after 22 years of cruel and repressive government by Yayha Jammeh who flew into exile at the weekend.

Barrow has to find how Jammeh managed to loot $11 million from the state coffers before leaving the country.

Most importantly he has to attract tourists back to his country’s sunny beaches.

They left last week when regional military action to remove Jammeh appeared likely.

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Did Yayha loot Jammeh loot Gambia’s coffers before going into exile https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/yayha-loot-jammeh-loot-gambias-coffers-going-exile/ Sun, 22 Jan 2017 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/yayha-loot-jammeh-loot-gambias-coffers-going-exile/ Gambia’s  missing $11 million from its  state coffers after yesterday’s departure into exile of defeated President Yayha Jammeh. President Adams Barrow is awaiting assurances about his security before leaving neighboring Senegal and returning home to role the country. Adviser to President Adama Barrow, Major Ahmad Fatty says they’re trying to evaluate the exact loss to […]

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Gambia’s  missing $11 million from its  state coffers after yesterday’s departure into exile of defeated President Yayha Jammeh.

President Adams Barrow is awaiting assurances about his security before leaving neighboring Senegal and returning home to role the country.

Adviser to President Adama Barrow, Major Ahmad Fatty says they’re trying to evaluate the exact loss to Gambia’s public purse.

He says Gambia is in financial distress.

Luxury cars and other costly items were seen being loaded onto a Chadian plane  before Yayha Jammeh boarded a plane for Guinea with that  country’s President Alpha Conde.

Troops from a number of West African countries are deployed in the Gambia capital Banjul waiting for the return of Barrow.

They’re controlling strategic points to guarantee his safety and that of his people.

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Gambian Supreme Court says it will be months before it can consider President Yayha Jammeh’s petition against last month’s election https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/gambian-supreme-court-says-will-months-can-consider-president-yayha-jammehs-petition-last-months-election/ Tue, 10 Jan 2017 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/gambian-supreme-court-says-will-months-can-consider-president-yayha-jammehs-petition-last-months-election/ Gambia’s Supreme Court says it will be May before it will be able to consider President Yayha Jammeh’s petition to review the legality of the election he lost on December 1. A delegation of West African leaders will visit Banjul today in a second attempt to get Jammeh to step down and allow the election […]

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Gambia’s Supreme Court says it will be May before it will be able to consider President Yayha Jammeh’s petition to review the legality of the election he lost on December 1.

A delegation of West African leaders will visit Banjul today in a second attempt to get Jammeh to step down and allow the election winner Adama Barrow to be inaugurated next week.

Gambian legal and human rights experts say challenging the outcome of last moth’s election doesn’t give President Yayha Jammeh a mandate to stay in power.

If he choses to contest the process, he should do so as a public figure with the new president in office.

The Supreme Court has been dormant for six months after several judges were sacked for commuting the death sentences of former military officers.

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Gambia’s information minister quits https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/gambias-information-minister-quits/ Mon, 09 Jan 2017 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/gambias-information-minister-quits/ Gambia’s information minister’s quit because President Yayha Jammeh refuses to accept defeat in last month’s election. Sheriff Bojang has urged colleagues to allow him out of the Cabinet room. Gambian information minister Sheriff Bojang says efforts to contest the election results are an attempt to subvert the express will of the Gambian people. Bojang grabbed […]

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Gambia’s information minister’s quit because President Yayha Jammeh refuses to accept defeat in last month’s election.

Sheriff Bojang has urged colleagues to allow him out of the Cabinet room.

Gambian information minister Sheriff Bojang says efforts to contest the election results are an attempt to subvert the express will of the Gambian people.

Bojang grabbed news headlines last October when he announced Gambia was quitting the International Criminal Court.

A trio of West African leaders, including Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari, will travel to the country tomorrow in a second bid to convince President Yayha Jammeh to accept defeat and allow election winner Adama Barrow take power.

The Economic Community of West African States has placed forces on standby in case  Jammeh does not step down

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Head of Gambia’s electoral body goes into hiding https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/head-gambias-electoral-body-goes-hiding/ Tue, 03 Jan 2017 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2017/01/head-gambias-electoral-body-goes-hiding/ Gambia’s Electoral Commission Chairman, Alieu Momar Njai has fled the country because he received threats after declaring President Yahya Jammeh the loser of a December 1 election. President Jammeh initially accepted defeat, but then changed his mind and is now refusing to step down. Gambian security forces took over the headquarters of the electoral commission […]

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Gambia’s Electoral Commission Chairman, Alieu Momar Njai has fled the country because he received threats after declaring President Yahya Jammeh the loser of a December 1 election.

President Jammeh initially accepted defeat, but then changed his mind and is now refusing to step down.

Gambian security forces took over the headquarters of the electoral commission shortly President Yayha Jammeh’s about turn.

Alieu Momar Njai’s son won’t confirm his father has left the country.

He says he hopes and prays his father is in safe hands.

Jammeh, who has ruled The Gambia for 22 years, has begun a crackdown to back his decision to deny property developer Adama Barrow the victory he achieved on December 1.

Three private radio stations have been taken off air since Sunday.

The West African regional bloc Ecowas, which has been leading diplomatic efforts to move Jammeh, has threatened sanctions and military action if he does not step down.

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