Crisis Chronology | The Gambia

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THE GAMBIA

01/18/2023

Vice President Badara Alieu Joof dies.

12/21/2022

Government says it has arrested four soldiers planning a coup.

04/09/2022

Ruling National People’s Party wins 19 of the 53 seats being voted on in legislative elections. Although that gives them a plurality over United Democratic Party, it will still need to form a coalition to govern.

12/29/2021

Court rejects UDP’s challenge to Barrow’s election.

12/06/2021

Opposition leader Darboe calls for calm and says he will contest election results in court.

12/05/2021

Barrow reelected

Barrow wins reelection with 53% of the vote, election commission reports.

11/30/2021

Presidential election on 12/4. It is expected to be a close race between Barrow, whose broken promise to be only a transitional president has caused dissatisfaction with some, and longtime opposition leader Ousainou Darboe, a former vice-president and member of the Three Years Jotna Party. Former dictator Yahya Jammeh remains a force, supporting Mama Kandeh, a member of the Pan-African Parliament and founding leader of the Gambian Democratic Congress Party.

09/06/2021

Former president Yahya Jammeh’s party, the APRC, announces alliance with the ruling NPP of President Barrow and will support him in the 12/4 election. The move suggests that Jammeh may not be prosecuted and may be allowed to return from exile.

01/30/2021

Barrow officially forms his National People’s Party (NPP), for which he will be the presidential candidate in elections 12/4/21.

03/18/2020

The Gambia confirms its first case of COVID-19.

03/11/2020

Barrow replaces the head of the army retroactive to 3/5.

01/26/2020

Government bans protests and arrests the heads of opposition media. The leader of the protestors’ group, the Three Years Jotna (is up) Movement, Abdou Njie, is also arrested.

01/16/2020

Police ban an anti-government march calling on Barrow to abide by his promise to only serve three years and then call new elections. However, a march calling for Jammeh to return.

01/12/2020

Government warns Jammeh that it cannot guarantee his safety if he returns.

01/02/2020

Barrow creates a new party, the National People’s Party (NPP) after breaking with the United Democratic Party.

01/02/2020

Barrow creates a new party, the National People’s Party (NPP) after breaking with the United Democratic Party.

12/16/2019

Protests against Pres Barrow’s decision to renege on his promise to step down.

12/12/2019

Persistent rumors that former president Jammeh will attempt a return, although a truth and reconciliation commission has heard testimony of multiple murders that he ordered.

09/24/2019

Increasing discontent with Barrow’s lack of action on campaign promises. He also promised to be a transitional president who would leave office at the end of 2019.

05/28/2019

Eight soldiers led by a former aide to Jammeh are sentenced for plotting to overthrow Barrow in 2017.

06/30/2018

Pres Barrow shuffles cabinet in wake of protests about effort to reduce debt and corruption. The head of the police department has resigned over the deaths of three protestors on 6/18 and the group calling itself “Enough is Enough” have demonstrated their dissatisfaction with corruption in the country.