On 18 February, Adama Barrow was officially inaugurated as the third President of the Republic of The Gambia, timely coinciding with Gambia’s Independence Day. After more than a month and a half of uncertainty about the future of the country following President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to recognise his defeat after the 1 December 2016 elections, he finally agreed to step down under the threat of ECOWAS soldiers and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea. This allowed Barrow, the victorious winner who was himself exiled in Senegal, to return to the country. The outcome of the Gambian crisis has provoked different reactions. Read on

The 50th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government was held in Abuja on 17 December 2016 to take stock of West Africa’s regional integration process. The security situation and the worrying political situation in The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau topped the agenda. ECOWAS leaders agreed to uphold the 1 December 2016 Gambian election results and to guarantee the safety and protection of the President-elect Adama Barrow who is supposed to be sworn in on 19 January 2017. Read on