Gambia

The Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1965 and relations between these states have been strong except during the Yahya Jammeh regime (1994 to 2016), when the European Union and United Nations declared him persona non-grata. The Barrow administration inherited a country that faced bankruptcy and an urgent need for debt relief after Jammeh allegedly stole $11.4 million (USD) before going into exile following his initial refusal to accept electoral defeat. In 2018, the Gambian Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission was launched to redress Jammeh-era human rights atrocities and its 2021 final report encouraged the prosecution of former Jammeh officials, for which there is strong support among Gambians. The government accepted almost all the Commission’s recommendations in May 2022 and Germany instigated a universal jurisdiction case against Bai L – an alleged paramilitary member accused of crimes against humanity. However, government prosecutions have not yet been announced. Although The Gambia does not have a history of ethnic or religious conflict (despite its high ethnolinguistic diversity), there have recently been concerns of increasing ‘tribalism’ in political discourse and disagreements between the minority Christian and majority Muslim communities about enshrining its secular status into its new constitution. Another point of unrest has been land conflicts, which are worsened by the lack of governmental measures to regulate land ownership.

The Gambia’s democratic and human rights performance has improved since 2016, positively indicated by its adoption of the Access to Information Bill, which legally safeguards against the repression of the media for which the Jammeh regime was known. Nonetheless, its democratic transition is incomplete and important areas for reform remain. There is insufficient political commitment to stem corruption through legislative and structural reforms. Another concern is the effects of climate change, particularly coastal erosion and extreme weather events such as heavy rainstorms. The Gambia’s reliance on its agricultural sector also renders its economic growth subject to extreme weather events. Corruption and climate change each are barriers to The Gambia escaping its status as a least developed country and servicing its debts. The fact that Gambians increasingly perceive the state to be showing favouritism toward some ethnic groups over others suggests that another trend to watch is the salience of ethnicity and religion as political divisions. Importantly, the lack of regulations for land ownership risks future escalations in land disputes.