Without the luxury of municipal collections household and business waste is a serious health problem in the Gambia: one group is turning it into a opportunity Waste and resources in the UK has now evolved into a mature industry employing thousands, turning over billions of pounds, encompassing numerous disciplines and recognised as a vital component of a future circular economy. But what was it like...
Development and humanitarian organisations need to better understand the cultural beliefs that damage maternal and child health "A pregnant woman should not eat cow. The child will be fat," said one respondent during research carried out on nutritional taboos among the Fulla people in the Upper River region of the Gambia. In comparison to the rest of western Africa, WHO classifies the Gambia's...
A pocket of land between Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Gambia has played host to one of contemporary Africa's longest wars César has the suspicious look of a conspirator, despite the crucifix hanging from a chain round his neck. I met him with his deputies Alphonse, Rambo, Rémi and Jérôme in a grubby cafe in Sao Domingos, a town in Guinea-Bissau. The country borders on Senegal...
The managing editor of a newspaper in the Gambia, Abdul Hamid Adiamoh, has been detained without charge beyond the country's legal limit of 72 hours. Adiamoh, a Nigerian who runs the Today newspaper , was arrested last Wednesday (20 June) in connection with an article that criticised a lawyer involved in the trial of the vice chancellor of the University of The Gambia, Muhammadou Kah. ...
Study finds visitors to Bali, the Gambia and Goa use 16 times as much water as locals, causing conflict and disease The disproportionate use of fresh water by tourists in developing world destinations is causing local conflict, exacerbating poverty and helping to spread disease, says a report to be published next week by the charity Tourism Concern. The report examined five coastal destinations popular...
Amnesty receives credible reports that nine prisoners have been killed and warns that more executions could be imminent Amnesty International said it had received credible reports that Gambia executed nine death-row prisoners on Friday. The human rights organisation said eight men and one woman were removed from their prison cells and killed, and warned that dozens more executions could be imminent....
Gambia leader executes nine prisoners including two Senegalese citizens to tackle rising crime rate The president of Senegal has denounced the execution of two Senegalese citizens who were among nine prisoners killed by firing squad in neighbouring Gambia last week. President Macky Sall told reporters at the airport on Tuesday that he was calling on Gambia's leader, president Yahya Jammeh, "to...
s rhetoric of "behind the scenes" engagement suggests appeasement. Others, equating economic indices and moral capability, have hinted that only Britain and other "developed" (read white-majority) countries have human rights concerns, the Asian and African Commonwealth being more interested in aid. The unpalatable truth is that the Commonwealth wasn't set up to address how its national leaders exercised...
s territorial waters". The accusations come less than a week after the Gambia made a surprise decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth , describing the 53-member grouping headed by the Queen as a "neo-colonial institution". The country had been a member of the Commonwealth since its independence from British colonial rule in 1965 and had previously enjoyed ostensibly good relations with its former...
s president, Yahya Jammeh. Camara, who hosts an eponymous weekly current affairs show on the state-owned television broadcaster (GRTS), was originally detained by members of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on 15 September. She was released and then rearrested two days later while her children were present. She has not been heard from since and inquiries to the NIA have been rebuffed. Peter Nkanga,...
s decision to yank the Gambia out of the Commonwealth was reportedly a bigger surprise to those in his immediate entourage than it was to Britain. The institution remains popular with Gambians, whether it is neocolonial, as Mr Jammeh said, or not. Few will mourn the absence at Commonwealth gatherings of the dictator who decided on a whim to execute all prisoners on death row and, who at the United...
s if it doesn't stand up for its values The Gambia has declared that it is withdrawing from the Commonwealth , a "neocolonial institution", according to the country's president, Yahya Jammeh. No further reasons were given, but the decision may well be related to the poor relationship between Jammeh and the UK. He's accused Britain of backing his political opposition, and this year the Foreign Office...
s withdrawal from the Commonwealth before the move was announced on state television on Wednesday night. The decision to leave the 54-member group of nations after almost half a century is believed to have been made by the president, Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in 1994 and has increasingly ruled the west African nation with an iron fist. Sources close to the government said they had no idea the...
s giving up its membership after almost half a century. But as a major destination for female sex tourists and with a dictator who believes he has a herbal cure for Aids, the tiny west African nation is full of surprises The tiny west African nation is in the news this week after it summarily announced it was leaving the Commonwealth after 48 years. No reason was given for the decision, but the government's...
s state television channel does not explain reason for decision Gambia has withdrawn from the Commonwealth, a collection of 54 nations made up largely of former British colonies, saying it will "never be a member of any neo-colonial institution". In an unexpected announcement broadcast by the west African nation on state television on Wednesday it was not immediately clear what prompted the decision...
s capital, Banjul, lie more meagre lodgings, nicknamed Mile 2 Hotel. A stone's throw from the white sands that make this west African country the region's biggest package holiday destination, the mosquito-infested Mile 2 central prison houses Gambians jailed for offences including distributing T-shirts without official permission. Ten of thousands of winter sun-seekers flock to mainland Africa's smallest...
s serious. The latest study to invoke natural selection appeared today under a headline in the Times that "tall, slim women have more babies" (paywalled link) . Well, if you must know, the actual news – published originally in the less sensationalist Current Biology – was that data collected over 55 years by the UK Medical Research Council in the Gambia suggests new ways in which natural selection...
devote more time to prayers and social activities' is bad for the west African country's economy A Gambian labour group is calling on the government to reconsider its decision to impose a four-day work week on the west African country. A government statement in January said that, beginning in February, civil servants' working weeks will be reduced to four days "to allow Gambians to devote more time...
s an abuse. I just want Aisha to be able to grow up stronger than I am. We have no choice about it in our country. I did not understand that I had rights until I came to the UK." Jobe arrived in the UK in 2008 to join her husband who had come to study. Within weeks of Aisha's birth, there was talk of arranging her circumcision. Jobe fled with her daughter. She applied for asylum in 2010, based on her...
Two Gambian journalists - Babucarr Ceesay and Abubacarr Saidykhan - were arrested after filing an application for permission to demonstrate, as required by law. They wished to protest against the execution of nine prisoners who were killed by firing squad on 24 August. They were the first to be executed in the Gambia for almost 30 years. Ceesay, vice president of the Gambia press union, runs a website...