Gambian administration has thwarted an attempt towards military coup and detained four soldiers planning to overthrow President Adama Barrow’s administration, the government said on Wednesday.
The Gambian Armed Forces High Command arrested four soldiers connected with the alleged coup after a military operation on Tuesday, it stated.
Coup attempts are not rare in the Gambia, a small West African nation with 2.5 million population almost fully surrounded by Senegal, which is continuously reeling from authoritarianism and alleged abuses done during the more than two decades of rule by former president Yahya Jammeh.
Jammeh also took over the reins of power through a coup in 1994 and failed several attempts to oust him. However, in the 2016 election he lost to Barrow.
His failure to retain power was seen as an uplift for democracy, even when there has been increasing frustration with Barrow’s administration for its incapability to eradicate poverty and manage rising living costs.
“Based on intelligence reports… some soldiers of the Gambian army were plotting to overthrow the democratically elected government,” the government said on Wednesday.
The army is searching for the other three alleged associates and investigations are ongoing, it added. Also, no details came out regarding whether the coup attempt was connected with the previous regime.
The year after Barrow took office, eight ex-soldiers under the direction of one of Jammeh’s former military advisers attempted to depose him. 2019 saw their prison terms for treason and conspiracy allegations they vehemently disputed.
