THE GAMBIA GOVERNMENT: AN ACT OF SELF DESTRUCTION.

THE GAMBIA GOVERNMENT: AN ACT OF SELF DESTRUCTION.

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  KAYJATTA:
  
  The Gambia is a tiny country, a strip of land jutting out of the Atlantic ocean on the west and surrounded by its French-speaking larger neighbor Senegal on the north, east and south. The Gambia has been a peaceful and relatively unimportant strategic place in global geopolitics.
  When on July 22, 1994 junior officers of the army toppled the thirty year regime of the democratically elected government of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara on the ppretext of corruption, the newly formed AFPRC/APRC government, notorious for summary executions and human rights abuse, survived largely because of the Gambia's relative unimportance on the geopolitical chess board.
  Now that may be changing. The Gambia government's recent involvement in regional instability, specifically in money laundering, drugs and arms trafficking may prompt the international community to take concerted effort in reigning in on the Jammeh regime.
  Last months seizure of illegal weapons by Nigeria from Iran (a pariah state) destine for Kanilai, Jammeh's home town was preceded by a billion dollar drug bust that implicated senior officers in  the Jammeh government.
  Senegal, the Gambia's immediate neighbor is very concerned about Jammeh's apparent support of Cassamance rebels in terms of weapons, medicine, passports and other supplies. Both Senegal and Nigeria have reported the Gambia to the United Nations for its clandestine activity that has the potential for creating instability in the region. International sanctions could follow a U.N. investigation, which will no doubt cripple the Gambian economy and its leadership. Therefore, Jammeh is extremely worried and he should be. The Gambia government's human rights atrocities so far have largely been ignored by the international community as internal affairs but its continued threat to regional peace will not be tolerated. Jammeh's days may be really numbered now...