By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives A controversial new law signed by President Donald J. Trump on 4 July has sparked anxiety in The Gambia, where nearly one in five households depends on money sent from abroad. Dubbed the “Big, Beautiful Remittance Act” by its Republican sponsors, the law imposes an additional 3.5 percent tax…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The first whispers of trouble began circulating on community WhatsApp groups in late May. By early June, alarm bells were ringing across government offices and diaspora families alike: the United States had issued a 60-day warning that The Gambia, along with 35 other nations, could face new visa restrictions…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives For decades faith in The Gambia was weaponised — not as a source of healing, but as a tool of political control. Under Yahya Jammeh’s authoritarian rule, mosques and churches became less places of worship and more instruments of state propaganda. Jammeh compelled Gambians to follow his religious directives…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives Concern is rising among civil society actors over growing confusion between reparations and inheritance in The Gambia’s transitional justice process. As the government begins implementing reparations to victims of former President Yahya Jammeh’s regime, activists are urging stronger protections for the intended beneficiaries—especially widows and children—who are facing increasing…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives Magistrate Dawda Phatey of the Bundung Magistrates’ Court delivered the conclusion of a coroner’s inquest that sought to answer troubling questions surrounding the death of General Bora Colley. Over the course of nearly a month, nine witnesses—ranging from senior military officers to family members and medical professionals—offered testimony about…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives In a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa, Ambassador Troy Fitrell, Senior Bureau Official for the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. State Department announced a dramatic shift in US foreign policy in Africa last month, which he said was aimed at transitioning the U.S.-Africa…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives In the early 2000s, Ebrima was silently led through the rusted gates of Mile 2 Central Prison in handcuffs. Convicted of rape during the former regime of President Yahya Jammeh, he remembers his first night vividly — the darkness, the stench, the heat, and the fear. “There was no…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives Two decades after a government crackdown on student protestors left 14 young people dead, tension is once again mounting on university campuses. At the heart of the unrest is a familiar grievance say experts: the absence of a credible, independent mechanism for students to air their concerns. Students say…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The Gambian government has ordered a coroner’s inquest into the death of Brigadier General Bora Colley, a former military officer accused of grave human rights violations under ex-president Yahya Jammeh’s regime. Colley, who had been in custody since August 2024 after voluntarily returning from exile, died on March 9, 2025,…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives When Yahya Jammeh’s authoritarian regime crumbled in 2017, a wave of hope swept across The Gambia. The new government, under President Adama Barrow, pledged to right the wrongs of a 22-year dictatorship that had silenced dissent, trampled rights, and governed through fear. At the heart of this reform agenda…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The long-awaited arrest warrant for Sanna Manjang, accused of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other human rights violations during Jammeh’s 22-year rule, has been met with a mix of relief and frustration among victims of Yahya Jammeh’s regime. The country’s 2018 Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission accused Jammeh and dozens…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The long-awaited arrest warrant for Sanna Manjang, accused of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other human rights violations during Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule, has been met with a mix of relief and frustration among victims. The country’s 2018 Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission accused Jammeh and dozens of his lieutenants…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives For victims of The Gambia’s brutal dictatorship, the country’s transitional justice process represents hope for accountability and reparations. But last month’s sudden decision by the incoming administration of United States President Donald Trump to cancel almost all foreign aid has casted a shadow over that hope. President Trump’s decision…
By Yankuba Jallow, Justice correspondent In one of its first moves the Trump administration has frozen all government assistance programs across the world for 90 days. Though much remains unclear, the new administration has indicated most of those programs – funded by USAID and the State Department – will be shuttered. The Gambia is not…
By Yankuba Jallow The US trial of an accused Liberian warlord Laye Sekou Camara, alias “K-1” or “Dragon Master” has ended in a guilty plea. Camara, facing forty years in prison for lying about his war activities on US immigration forms, pleaded guilty days before his trial was set to go ahead. In a move…
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The United States government is reportedly considering shutting down its embassy in The Gambia, an unprecedented diplomatic retreat that would mark the first closure of an American mission in Banjul since it was established shortly after the country’s independence in 1965. According to a leaked internal memo from the…
