President John Mahama has on behalf of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) expressed solidarity with the President and people of the Gambia following a failed coup d’etat in December 2014.
[contextly_sidebar id=”nO8AvRFqbQDlE16CIhO43TzGtibU0cC2″]Addressing journalists after a short meeting with President Yahya Jammeh, President Mahama pointed out that “in the African tradition, if anything happens in your brother’s house you have to go and visit and make sure that things are okay, and that is why I came.”
According to him, ECOWAS protocols do not support violent overthrow of governments, therefore his visit is to “remind all member states of the protocols that ECOWAS has, that change of government must be through democratic means and as far as possible we should try and abide by that.”
On December 30, 2014, there was an attempted coup in the Gambia following heavy gunfire near the country’s presidential palace in Banjul.
President Yahya Jammeh, who was out of the country returned home to find the coup plotters.
Subsequently, two men were charged in the United States for the attempted coup.
President Jammeh seized power in 1994 at the age of 29 through a coup.
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By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan