Gambia foils military coup bid
A group of disaffected soldiers launched a foiled coup bid
in The Gambia on Tuesday while the west African state's iron-fisted leader was
in Dubai, military and diplomatic sources said.
Forces loyal to President Yahya Jammeh, who has ruled the
small country for 20 years, killed three suspects including the alleged ringleader
-- an army deserter, a military officer said, reports AFP.
The officer, speaking to AFP from Bissau, said the deserter
named as Lamin Sanneh led a heavily-armed attack with another six men on the
presidential palace in the capital Banjul.
The pre-dawn assault triggered panic in the tropical city,
while national radio went off air for several hours and state television was
suspended.
Opposition politician Sheikh Sidya Bayo told a private
Senegalese radio station that the unrest was "the start of a mutiny that
changed" into a bid to topple Jammeh.
Three of the suspected coup plotters were killed and another
captured by Jammeh's forces, but there was no confirmation of an overall death
toll from the fighting.
"Police and the army are now entirely in control of the
situation," the military officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A Gambian diplomat said the presidential palace was attacked
at 3a.m., (0300 GMT) by armed men, including members of the presidential
guard.
"They wanted to overthrow the regime," a military
source told AFP, while a Western diplomat said a coup attempt has
"apparently been foiled".
Army patrols urged people to return home and remain calm as
they fanned out across the capital. Shops, banks offices and businesses were
closed and few vehicles were on the streets.
"Contrary to rumours, there is peace and calm in the
country and people are advised to go about their normal businesses. We are
praying for peace and tranquility to continue," state radio announced late
Monday, quoting a government statement.
- History of coup plots -
The former head of military police, Jammeh, 49, has ruled
the largely rural nation of some 1.8 million people with a firm hand since
1994, when he came to power in a coup that toppled founding leader Sir Dawda
Jawara.
Jammeh first led an armed forces provisional ruling council
that suspended the constitution of the former British colony. In 1996, he went
on to win a presidential election, aged just 31, amid allegations of fraud.
The army justified Jawara's ouster on the grounds of endemic
corruption and policies that undermined democratic institutions and caused
social unrest.
Since the young soldier took power and donned the flowing
robes of a civilian chief, his regime has claimed to have foiled a succession
of coup plots in murky circumstances.
- Poor rights record -
Backed by his Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and
Reconstruction, APRC, party, which enjoys a large majority in parliament,
Jammeh has come under fire for serious human rights abuses, including the
disappearance of opponents.
The December 2004 killing of prominent journalist and critic
of the regime Deyda Hydara, who edited The Point newspaper and was also an AFP
correspondent, caused uproar both in The Gambia and abroad.
Allegations linking the murder to Jammeh and his circle have
gone no further and in the wake of the affair, the president imposed tough
measures in a crackdown on press freedom.
The outspoken Jammeh has denounced gays and lesbians, once
threatening to behead them but instead overseeing the imposition of long jail
terms. Last year, he told the United Nations General Assembly that homosexuality was
"becoming an epidemic" to be fought by Muslims and Africans alike.
Sensitive to criticism, the government in October 2013
announced it was leaving the Commonwealth and accused Britain and the United States
of engaging in a "shameless campaign of lying" about The Gambia's
rights record.
The Gambia is a long, thin strip of farming land that lies
either side of the Gambia river, sandwiched between the northern bulk of
Senegal and the former French colony's southern Casamance province.
It is a popular winter sun destination for British
holidaymakers.
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