The Gambia Bans Anti-Presidential Protests

President Adama Barrow’s continued presidency has become highly controversial in The Gambia. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Gambian government has cracked down on rapidly escalating protests calling for President Adama Barrow to step down, officially banning demonstrations and critical media on January 26.

Political tensions have grown in the small West African country for several weeks as Borrow refuses to resign as president since the end of his promised three-year term.

Public demonstrations recently took a violent turn as 137 protestors were arrested following clashes with security forces in the outskirts of the capital, Banjul, on January 26. The protest ban was announced shortly after. 

The protestors were activists in the Three Years Enough movement, a peaceful demonstration against Barrow’s continued rule. 

Barrow initially came to power following the heavily contested 2016 election, when long-time incumbent Yahya Jammeh was ousted by an opposition coalition of seven main parties and civil society groups. The election, which marked the first transfer of power by popular election in The Gambia since its independence in 1965, resulted in the forced exile of Jammeh, who refused to step down after losing the election.

While Barrow initially enjoyed considerable domestic support for his efforts to reverse his predecessor’s isolationist and authoritarian policies, he has recently come under attack for failing to abide by his promise to only hold power for three years. Prior to the 2016 elections, the opposition coalition concluded a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that stipulated that, should Barrow win, he would serve for a shortened term as a transitional president. Following the three-year term, Barrow was supposed to organize new elections and step back from politics. However, this MoU is not legally binding, and Barrow announced that he is prepared to run again in the upcoming presidential election.

Many Gambians see this failure to abide by the original MoU as a betrayal. Thousands of Gambians organized the Three Years Enough movement and, for the past several weeks, have protested against the president’s continued hold on power. 

While the demonstrations were initially relatively peaceful, the mass arrests of 137 protestors marked a significant shift in The Gambia’s political situation. Three people were killed in the clashes, according to Kebba Manneh, the director of the Serrekunda Hospital where victims were taken. However, the government denied that any protesters were killed.

In response to the violence, the government moved to ban Three Years Enough, with government spokesperson Ebrima Sankareh branding it a “subversive, violent, and illegal movement.” The Gambian government also suspended two radio stations accused of inciting violence and encouraging the protesters. 

These recent developments have sparked considerable concern that the human and civil rights conditions in The Gambia may be deteriorating. Amnesty International Acting Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa Marta Colomer said that the “crackdown on protesters had alarming echoes of Gambia’s brutal past… [and] the use of excessive force by security forces to disperse protesters risks fuelling tensions and steering Gambia back to dark days of repression.”