Gambia Turns to Middle East for Funds as EU Cuts Aid Over Human Rights Concerns

jchima

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Sep 22, 2014
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The European Union has withdrawn millions of euros of funding from Gambia as a result of its poor human rights record, thereby leaving the mainly Muslim West African nation to rely on donors from the Middle East for development projects. Reuters report:

The shift in soft power is of concern to Western governments in a region where Islamist militancy in northern Nigeria and northern Mali is fueling instability, diplomatic sources said.
Source: Gambia Turns to Middle East for Funds as EU Cuts Aid Over Human Rights Concerns - eReporter
 
Gambia declares Islamic republic status...

Gambia president declares country an Islamic republic
12 Dec.`15 - Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh on Friday declared the formerly secular country an Islamic republic in a move he said was designed to distance the West African state further from its colonial past.
The tiny sliver of a country, named after the river from which British ships once allegedly fired cannonballs to fix its borders, joins the ranks of other Islamic Republics such as Iran and Afghanistan. "In line with the country's religious identity and values, I proclaim Gambia as an Islamic state," said Jammeh on state television. "As Muslims are the majority in the country, the Gambia cannot afford to continue the colonial legacy," he added. Gambia's population of 1.8 million people is 95 percent Muslim. He said that other citizens of other faiths would still be able to practise.

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Al Hadji Yahya Jammeh, President of the Republic of the Gambia, addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York​

Jammeh, an animated orator who has earned the reputation for making surprise declarations over the course of his 21-year presidency, pulled Gambia out of the Commonwealth in 2013, calling it neo-colonial. In 2007, he claimed to have found a herbal cure for AIDS. Despite strong commercial ties with Britain and other European countries whose citizens are regular visitors to Gambia's white-sand beaches, relations with the West have deteriorated in recent years.

The European Union temporarily withheld aid money to the country last year over Gambia's poor human rights record. Gambia, whose main industries are agriculture and tourism, ranks 165 out of 187 countries on the U.N. development index. "Starved of development funds because of his deplorable human rights record and economic mismanagement, Jammeh is looking towards the Arab world as substitute for and source of development aid," said blogger Sidi Sanneh, a former foreign minister who has become a U.S.-based dissident.

Gambia president declares country an Islamic republic
 
Gambia goes Mooslumic...

Gambia: Africa's new Islamic republic
22 January 2016 - The West African nation of The Gambia was declared an Islamic republic, in December, by its president. What are the implications for its people, and the region in general?
Why did The Gambian president declare the state an Islamic republic?

Gambia's President, Yahya Jammeh, declared his West African country an Islamic republic, at a political rally, on 11 December - making it Africa's second, after Mauritania. The president justified his announcement by saying he was breaking from The Gambia's colonial past. The announcement was unexpected and similar to President Jammeh's decision to leave the Commonwealth in 2013 (after 48 years membership), which he also justified as an effort to fully decolonise.

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The majority of the population is Muslim​

These announcements came at moments when President Jammeh's international relations but also domestic politics were increasingly strained, not helped by a deteriorating economy with a growing public-debt burden, which according to the IMF, reached about 100% of GDP at the end of 2014. President Jammeh had enjoyed close relations with Libya's late leader Muammar Gaddafi, and Tripoli provided significant aid and cash. And, in July 2009, the president bestowed The Gambia's highest order, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Republic of The Gambia, on Gaddafi.

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But President Jammeh surprised everybody in February 2011 by calling on him to resign as the Arab Spring began to hot up. Losing Gaddafi's money punched a big hole in The Gambia's budget. The president also broke off relations with Taiwan, in 2013, after it refused to provide more money to bail him out. He had probably hoped China would reward him for rupturing relations with Taipei, but this has not happened.

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