State of emergency lifted

Gambia’s parliament on Tuesday revoked a state of emergency imposed last week by former President Yahya Jammeh shortly before he fled into exile, as the tiny West African country slowly recovered from its political crisis. Jammeh plunged Gambia into turmoil in early December when he refused to accept his election defeat to challenger Adama Barrow, […]

Gambia’s parliament on Tuesday revoked a state of emergency imposed last week by former President Yahya Jammeh shortly before he fled into exile, as the tiny West African country slowly recovered from its political crisis.

Jammeh plunged Gambia into turmoil in early December when he refused to accept his election defeat to challenger Adama Barrow, demanding a new poll and later dissolving the National Assembly and declaring a three-month state of emergency.

“The National Assembly hereby resolved … to approve the revocation of the declaration of the state of public emergency,” said majority leader, Fabakary Tombong Jatta of the unanimous vote.

Barrow has still not yet returned to Gambia from neighboring Senegal, where he took the oath of office on Thursday. He is due back in Gambia’s capital Banjul in the coming days.