Africa-Press – Gambia. Essa Mbye Faal, leader of APP Sobeya, has accused President Adama Barrow of maintaining the presence of ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG) out of fear of former president Yahya Jammeh.
Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Faal said there is no current security threat in the country that justifies the continued deployment of ECOMIG forces nearly nine years after the 2016 political transition.
“If you see Barrow still keeping ECOMIG until today, in my view, it is out of fear,” Faal said. “The Gambia has no security crisis that warrants ECOMIG to be here.”
Faal also criticized President Barrow’s shifting stance on Jammeh’s possible return to the country. He recalled Barrow’s 2021 visit to Kanilai, where the president reportedly said Jammeh could return as a citizen and reside there.
“Barrow went to Kanilai and said Jammeh can come back and said he is a citizen of this country and can stay in Kanilai,” Faal said. “But now he is saying if he comes, we are going to arrest him. Just imagine if being scared of Jammeh and the loyalty he commands in the army can make him keep ECOMIG here; for nine years, he would not have asked Jammeh to come back. He was just bluffing,” he said.
Faal said President Barrow’s shift in position regarding Jammeh’s return stems from growing indications that the former leader may be considering a comeback to The Gambia.
He also spoke about the implementation of the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) recommendations, pledging that if elected president, he would make accountability and reparations for victims a top priority.
The APP leader criticized the Barrow administration for what he described as slow and inadequate progress in implementing the TRRC’s findings.
“The issue is that he has an obligation to implement all the recommendations, including the accountability part. It has been four and a half years since the white paper came out, and we have not seen any significant implementation. The perpetrators are still free in the country,” he said.
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