{"id":96011,"date":"2026-04-15T10:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:07:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:07:54","slug":"udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform","title":{"rendered":"UDP Memorial Procession for Solo Sandeng Highlights Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The United Democratic Party on Tuesday led a memorial procession honoring Ebrima Solo Sandeng, commemorating his role in The Gambia\u2019s pro-democracy struggle under former President Yahya Jammeh.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The march, which stretched from Bamboo to Westfield, drew a broad cross-section of participants, including party members, activists, and victims of past state repression. Marchers moved in solidarity, carrying placards and chanting calls for sustained commitment to democracy, justice, and human rights, as they paid tribute to Mr. Sandeng\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n<p>Among those present were the party\u2019s secretary general and leader, Ousainou ANM Darboe, alongside senior officials, grassroots supporters, and survivors of abuses during the Jammeh era.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the gathering, Mr. Darboe said Mr. Sandeng and his colleagues had not set out to advance a partisan agenda but rather a national cause centered on electoral reform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSolo and his colleagues did not go out to promote a United Democratic Party agenda,\u201d he said. \u201cThey went out to advance a national agenda\u2014one directed at electoral reforms.\u201dHe argued that the country\u2019s legal and constitutional framework at the time had been structured to entrench incumbency, describing it as untenable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSolo, his colleagues, and of course the organization, the party that he belonged to, believed that this was a non-starter. It\u2019s a situation that cannot be allowed to continue,\u201d he said, adding that their demands included reforms aligned with international democratic standards, such as freedom of association and the right to protest without prior authorization.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe also recalled widespread opposition among political parties to the Jammeh government\u2019s decision to raise presidential nomination fees to one million dalasis, later reduced to half that amount.\u201cThe promise to the Gambian people was electoral reforms, a repeal of the Public Order Act, a new constitution, a constitution that gives the Gambian citizens the ultimate power and right to ensure that they effectively control their government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Also speaking at the event was the chairman of the Brikama Area Council, Yankuba Darboe, who invoked the enduring legacy of those who died in the struggle. Quoting the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, he said the souls of the righteous are \u201cboth immortal and divine,\u201d adding that Mr. Sandeng and others continue to live on in spirit.<\/p>\n<p>He paid tribute to survivors and activists, including Kafu Bayo, Falang Sonko, Fatou Camara and Modou Ngum, thanking them for their sacrifices and resilience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to remember you, and we will continue to celebrate this date on the 14th of April every year,\u201d he said, describing the date as symbolic of the country\u2019s liberation from fear under the former National Intelligence Agency.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe added that the struggle for justice and reform remains unfinished. \u201cBut the struggle, as Falang lamented here, continues until we are able to achieve the goals and objectives of Solo and many who went out on that day and many who subsequently went after.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Falang Sonko, a victim of the crackdown, described the anniversary as deeply painful. \u201cToday is a very difficult day for us, the victims, because this is something we have lived through. We know what it feels like because it happened to us. We did it out of love for our country, to push for real electoral reforms. But the saddest part is that, to this day, nothing has changed. \u2018Never again\u2019 now feels just like \u2018all over again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that the commemoration should draw all Gambians, calling it a national moment of reflection.<\/p>\n<p>Another survivor, Aja Fatou Camara, described being arrested during the protest, stating that despite the demonstration remaining peaceful, she was assaulted and forcibly put into a Police Intervention Unit vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA security officer slapped me and threw me inside a PIU truck,\u201d she said, emphasizing that they had taken part in a peaceful protest out of love for their country.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Sandeng, then the UDP\u2019s national organizing secretary, led a peaceful protest on April 14, 2016, calling for electoral reform. He died in state custody days later. His death sparked widespread outrage at home and abroad and became a turning point in the movement that ultimately brought an end to Mr. Jammeh\u2019s 22-year rule.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The United Democratic Party on Tuesday led a memorial procession honoring Ebrima Solo Sandeng, commemorating his role in The Gambia\u2019s pro-democracy struggle under former President Yahya Jammeh. The march, which stretched from Bamboo to Westfield, drew a broad cross-section of participants, including party members, activists, and victims of past state repression. Marchers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-96011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UDP Memorial Procession for Solo Sandeng Highlights Reform - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The United Democratic Party on Tuesday led a memorial procession honoring Ebrima Solo Sandeng, commemorating his role ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UDP Memorial Procession for Solo Sandeng Highlights Reform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United Democratic Party on Tuesday led a memorial procession honoring Ebrima Solo Sandeng, commemorating his role ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T10:31:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T11:07:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238496.239472.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UDP Memorial Procession for Solo Sandeng Highlights Reform\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-15T10:31:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T11:07:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform\"},\"wordCount\":711,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776238496.239472.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-memorial-procession-for-solo-sandeng-highlights-reform\",\"name\":\"UDP Memorial Procession for Solo Sandeng Highlights Reform - 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