The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States has “strongly” condemned the attempt to overthrow the government in the Gambia.
The commission says it rejects every unconstitutional change of government in any of its member states, while saluting the Gambia’s security forces for foiling the coup.
On Wednesday, the Gambia released a statement that it arrested four soldiers linked to an alleged attempt to overthrow President Adama Barrow.
The government said it foiled the plot following intelligence reports.
It listed the arrested soldiers as:
- Lance Corporal Sanna Fadera from the Gambian Navy
- Couple Mbarra Touray from the 1st Infantry Battalion
- Couple Ebrahima Sanno from the Military Police
- and Sergeant Gibril Darboe from the Gambian Navy.
The government believes Lance Corporal Fadera is the leader of the team and says the arrested soldiers are helping the Military Police with their investigations.
Three other soldiers are on Banjul’s wanted list.
The Gambia is a West African country about half the size of Kano State and with a population of 2.5 million people.
There have been five successful coups in West African states since 2021, despite the African Union’s Lomé Declaration of July 2020 which banned coups and adopted sanctions against a forceful change of government.
