The Gambia is the smallest country on the African continent. It is a sliver of land, about 11,000 square kilometres, with a population that could easily all move to live in a remote town of Nigeria without anyone noticing. This tiny country has been in the news a lot recently, but not for reasons that will be good for its tourism. The headlines were all about the stubbornness of its now-former leader, Yahya Jammeh, who refused to demit office after it was clear he had lost the general elections. It is said that African leaders have a long shelf life that often extends beyond their expiry dates. Yahya Jammeh’s time had expired. I knew it, his people knew it, the international community knew it, every dog and cat in The Gambia knew it...only Yahya Jammeh didn’t want to accept it. We should note that since independence from England in 1965 to 2016 (a period of 51 years), The Gambia has had only two leaders – Dawda Jawara and Yahya Jammeh. It is, therefore, no surprise that it took great persuasion to get His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Abdul-Aziz Awal Jemus Junkung Jammeh Naasiru Deen Babili Mansa (official title) off his throne. But while we all applaud the resolute determination of ECOWAS and neighbouring countries like Senegal, Nigeria and Mali, to ensure that Jammeh left office, the whole event should leave us with a number of lingering questions. The first question is: When do we conclude, definitively, that a leader is no longer legitimate and must be forced to leave office? Jammeh may have been the latest, but he was by no means the first African leader that clearly lost an election and tried to stay in power. Some were forced to step down after public demonstrations. Others were stopped with the help of regional institutions such as ECOWAS (e.g. Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo in 2010.) But others succeeded. In some cases election results were manipulated. How effective has the AU or other regional institutions been in addressing these situations? It may have been easy to get rid of Jammeh, but there are many question marks about what should be done with other countries. Burundi comes to mind. And what about corruption? What can the AU and regional institutions do when oppressive leaders rape their countries to accumulate enormous wealth – luxury overseas mansions, yachts, private jets, and well-endowed offshore bank accounts? We do recognise, of course, that the sovereignty of a country is paramount and due process must be followed before any regional or international body intervenes in the affairs of any State. But does anyone believe that what Jammeh attempted to do was any more reprehensible than what many leaders have done and continue to do when they loot their country’s wealth for their own personal enrichment? How do we ‘persuade’ such leaders to demit office? This brings us to one final issue – the question of size. Equality before the law is a cardinal principle in both national and international law. Whether it be a rich country or a poor one, a big one or a small one, every country should expect to have the same rights and be held to the same standards. This issue is important because we saw how quickly ECOWAS, Nigeria and Senegal were able to deploy military forces to force Jammeh, the leader of a tiny piece of land, to leave office. We all watched on TV as Senegalese tanks rolled across the border into The Gambian territory and a Nigerian warship moved into position. But we have mainly seen this type of military action in the Francophone region, and mostly against small countries – The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, with the one exception being the Ivory Coast in 2010. If Jammeh were president of a very large African country, or in an eastern or southern African country, would we have seen a similarly quick move to deploy military force? Let me not be misunderstood. I fully support the point of view that African institutions must play a stronger and more direct role in addressing African issues. This was also the case made by Rwanda in the recent UN discussions on issues of peace and conflict resolution. African institutions and peacekeepers are closer to the ground, and these are African challenges. So African institutions should take the lead. We have also agreed that Jammeh lost the elections, and it was the right decision to force him to leave. But The Gambia is not an isolated case. And it should not be treated as such. We need a consistent approach from the AU and the regional institutions to address these issues – not just in the Francophone zone or in small countries. And not just when leaders refuse to leave office after losing elections. We should aspire to see similarly resolute action to hold leaders accountable all over Africa and for other gross abuses of power.. The writer is a development consultant as well as owner and operator of Forrest Jackson Relocation Services.
