TheSpanish National Police said that an international investigation resulted in the detention of seven people who were caught transporting more than 800 kilograms of cocaine aboard a Gambian fishing boat in Senegalese waters. Some of the suspects are believed to be linked to the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta.

The government of the West African nation of Gambia on Friday revoked with immediate effect all timber export licenses and banned the felling and import of Pterocarpus erinaceus, known as African rosewood. Experts remain skeptical about how effective this ban will be.

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking the forfeiture of a Maryland property belonging to former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh worth some US$3.5 million, which he is believed to have acquired through illegal activities during his two decades at the helm of the West African nation. 

For nearly fifteen years, the banner on the front page of one of Gambia’s daily newspapers, The Point, has asked the same question each morning: Who killed Deyda Hydara? 

An answer was finally delivered at a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission session on Monday, when an officer from the Gambia Armed Forces admitted to having belonged to the killing squad that murdered one of Gambia’s most respected journalists on the orders of former president Yahya Jammeh.

Gambia's official inquiry into the corruption of former President Yahya Jammeh found he had looted at least $363 million of public funds during his more than two decades in power.

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh would have not been able to rule from 1994 to 2016 without US and UK banks who had helped his corrupt and oppressive regime, Transparency International, TI, said Wednesday.

For more than two decades, Yahya Jammeh ruled over Gambia, a tiny West African country known for tropical beaches and tranquility in a region often rocked by conflict.

Under the rule of ousted dictator Yahya Jammeh, the Gambian government signed an opaque contract with a controversial firm to manage its citizens’ identity documents. The new rulers promise a new way of doing things, but they’re sticking to the deal.

Adama Barrow, President of The Gambia since January 2017. Credit: Marvanda

Thai authorities said Tuesday they have seized 422 pieces of ivory elephant tusks and arrested a Gambian national suspected of smuggling the illegal wildlife product worth some 17 million baht (US$ 482,406).

The party of long-reigning Gambian President Yahya Jammeh officially reversed course Tuesday on a pledge by the strongman to accept the results of an election that ejected him from power in early December.

The leader of the main opposition party in The Gambia was released on bail on Monday, along with 18 others, just days after the shock election defeat of the West African country’s long-reigning strongman.