Gambia

Gambia In 1843 the British declared the area around the town of Bathurst (now Banjul) a British colony and in 1888 extended their control up the River Gambia into the interior, claiming the entire area as a British protectorate. It was mainly governed through indirect rule by local chiefs and, by the same token, was largely neglected by British investment. After the British had long resisted the formation of political parties, they had to consent to a degree of politicization as a necessary prelude to independence. In 1962, Dawda Jawara became Prime Minister. He negotiated the country's independence on 18 February 1965. Gambia was the last country in western Africa to gain independence, as it had been deemed too poor for decolonization. Jawara also established a republic in 1970, and became the country's first President. The country retained many of its traditional local hierarchical structures, and was thus politically stable for a time. It entered a political union with Senegal in 1982, but this was revoked in 1989. Jawara was re-elected for a fifth successive term in 1992, having overcome two coup attempts by the army in 1980 and 1981. However, he was ousted from power in a successful military coup on 23 July 1994, led by Yayah Jammeh. Jammeh suspended the Constitution until 1998, banned all political parties, and reintroduced the death penalty in 1995. Jammeh was re-elected amidst allegations of electoral fraud with 53 per cent of the popular vote in 2001. Economic and administrative mismanagement have prevented the effective tackling of the country's long-term problems, such as its reliance on the harvesting of groundnuts which employed 70 per cent of the population, and the long-term decline of tourism.

Senegal