AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.4%)
AIRLINK 129.53 Decreased By ▼ -2.20 (-1.67%)
BOP 6.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.15%)
CNERGY 4.63 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.58%)
DCL 8.94 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.36%)
DFML 41.69 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (2.66%)
DGKC 83.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-0.37%)
FCCL 32.77 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.33%)
FFBL 75.47 Increased By ▲ 6.86 (10%)
FFL 11.47 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.06%)
HUBC 110.55 Decreased By ▼ -1.21 (-1.08%)
HUMNL 14.56 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (1.75%)
KEL 5.39 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (3.26%)
KOSM 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-6.46%)
MLCF 39.79 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (0.91%)
NBP 60.29 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
OGDC 199.66 Increased By ▲ 4.72 (2.42%)
PAEL 26.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.15%)
PIBTL 7.66 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.41%)
PPL 157.92 Increased By ▲ 2.15 (1.38%)
PRL 26.73 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.19%)
PTC 18.46 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.87%)
SEARL 82.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-0.7%)
TELE 8.31 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.97%)
TOMCL 34.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.12%)
TPLP 9.06 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (2.84%)
TREET 17.47 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (4.61%)
TRG 61.32 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-1.81%)
UNITY 27.43 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.04%)
WTL 1.38 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (7.81%)
BR100 10,407 Increased By 220 (2.16%)
BR30 31,713 Increased By 377.1 (1.2%)
KSE100 97,328 Increased By 1781.9 (1.86%)
KSE30 30,192 Increased By 614.4 (2.08%)

Thousands of supporters of Gambia's former dictator Yahya Jammeh demonstrated Thursday on the outskirts of the capital Banjul, demanding his return from exile.

The protest came days after the former autocrat was heard in a leaked audio recording insisting that the tiny West African state guarantee his right to return.

Jammeh ruled Gambia with an iron fist for 22 years, but fled in January 2017 after losing a presidential election to relative unknown Adama Barrow.

Calls for his return from Equatorial Guinea have grown recently as tensions heighten over Barrow's decision to stay in office for five years - reversing a previous pledge to step down after three. On Thursday, thousands of supporters of Jammeh's Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party gathered in Sukuta, a town 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Banjul, an AFP journalist said. "We need him one hundred percent. We are ready to die for him," said 26-year-old protester Ismaila Colley, referring to Jammeh.

"Before Jammeh left here for exile, there was an agreement for him to come back into the country after three years."

Thousands of Gambians protested last month demanding that Barrow step down, and similar protests are planned for January 19 or 20. Barrow supporters have also held counter-demonstrations. The ex-president's supporters argue he has a right to return under a joint statement from the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations, published at the time of his exile. The organisations committed to working with the Gambian government to ensure Jammeh's security and rights, in particular his right to return.

Barrow's cabinet has said that Jammeh can return as a citizen but cannot run for president again.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2020

Comments

Comments are closed.