DEPENDING on whom one speaks to, it was either an act of war or a map-reading error. When troops from neighbouring Senegal massed on the Gambian border this week—poised to force out Gambia’s dictator, Yahya Jammeh—reports emerged on Thursday night that they had already crossed the frontier. In fact, according to diplomats, they had merely misprogrammed their GPS navigator, and had strayed over the undulating, unmarked border by mistake.
The world’s first “invasion by Sat Nav error”? Or just a deliberate “mistake” to put the wind up Mr Jammeh? Nobody really knows. Although West Africa’s regional power bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), may not be as slick as the Pentagon when it comes to military manoeuvres, its calm stewardship of this week’s crisis in Gambia has won it many admirers.
When Mr Jammeh reneged on his pledge to step down after losing elections in December to Adama Barrow, it seemed the tiny west African nation was about to go back to a time when leaders ignored election results with little fear of consequences. These days, though, the region prides itself as being one of the...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2iNwiAw
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