Jubilant Gambians on Thursday, 26 January welcomed home their new president, who was elected almost two months ago but forced to flee to Senegal when his predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, refused to step aside. Dressed in flowing white robes and cap, Adama Barrow stepped off the plane at the Banjul International Airport with heavily-armed troops from Senegal and Nigeria standing by …

Following the revelations of his active role in the repressive regime of ousted president, Yahya Jammeh, former Gambian interior minister, Ousman Sonko, has been arrested by the Swiss authorities. Sonko was arrested yesterday, 26 January in an asylum centre in Berlin following a case of crimes against humanity filed against him by the human rights organisation TRIAL International. The Geneva-based …

Germany’s ‘Marshall Plan’, which calls for an equal partnership to industrialize Africa, has received positive feedback among African business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which took place from 17-20 January. But some are a bit wary, reports Martina Schwikowski. Germany’s Marshall Plan with Africa has received a lot of praise but also criticism. Some call the economic plan too …

Ousman Sonko, a top member of the repressive Gambian regime of ousted president, Yahya Jammeh, has applied for refugee protection in Switzerland, Bern’s police chief confirmed on Wednesday, 25 January. Sonko, a former long-serving interior minister, has been staying in an asylum centre in Bern since November 2016, police chief Hans-Juerg Kaeser said. The ex-minister, who fled Gambia after Jammeh …

The Federal Government of Nigeria and General Electric (GE) are in talks over the planned concession of railway projects in the country on the basis of Public Private Partnership. “We are negotiating with GE to take over the narrow gauge from Lagos to Kano-Funtua-Yobe, and from Port Harcourt to Borno,” Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has said. He …

The former European Parliament president, Martin Schulz, is to be the candidate of the Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) in its bid to unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel in this year’s election. Schulz should be officially confirmed at a meeting on Sunday, after the party’s leader, Sigmar Gabriel decided to stand aside. The SPD has been in government with Merkel’s Christian …

I am the daughter of the well-known Nigerian human rights activist Comrade Oladipo Ola-Oni. My family originated from Ibadan, Nigeria, and I have been living in Germany since 1992. In Nigeria I was motivated by the way my best friend spoke the German language. It fascinated me. I developed so much affection for it that my dad applied for me …

There are no facts yet to back the widely circulated claims that Gambia’s ex-ruler Yahya Jammeh looted millions of dollars from the country’s treasury before leaving for exile, a spokesman of President Adama Barrow has revealed. Speaking on BBC Newsday late night programme on Sunday from Banjul, Halifa Sallah, the chief spokesman for Gambia’s new government, said no government institution …

It has not been the most positive of times in Nigeria considering the current economic climate, but every now and then a story will pop up and lift the spirits of the country. Tomisin Ogunnubi from Lagos has provided such a story for her nation in Answers Africa. The 12-year-old girl from Lagos has developed an app to solve a …

Members of the German chapter of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which won Ghana’s presidential election in December, will celebrate their victory on Saturday, 11 February. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his third attempt defeated incumbent President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress at the 7 December election, marking the first time in Ghana’s history that a sitting president …

Gambia’s former president, Yahya Jammeh, finally left Banjul, the country’s capital, Saturday (21 January) night into a new life in exile in Equatorial Guinea. Before agreeing to step down and leave the country to allow the new president, Adama Barrow, to take over, Jammeh signed a Joint Agreement with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU) …

After a military standoff and a flurry of diplomatic activities following last month’s presidential election, former President Yahya Jammeh finally left The Gambia late Saturday for a new life in exile. To avoid military confrontation with Senegalese-led ECOWAS troops, he had agreed on Friday to step down and leave the country after two days of marathon negotiations with Presidents Alpha …

Gambian refugees across the world are following the political crisis in their home country with both apprehension and hope. DW’s Daniel Pelz met some of them in Germany’s capital Berlin. General’s hands were glued to his smartphone, even when he spoke. “I am so scared. I am always thinking about Gambia, about what’s happening next,” the 30-year-old refugee from The Gambia said in …

Fellow Gambians, my first preoccupation, as president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and a patriot and the most sacred at that is to preserve at every instance and in every circumstance the lives of Gambians and this is a duty I hold sacrosanct. I have always pride for peace and security of our nation and Africa. During this entire …

“I have decided today in good conscience to relinquish the mantle of leadership of this great nation with infinite gratitude to all Gambians,” Yahya Jammeh said in a late night address on state television yesterday [Friday, 20 January]. The man who has ruled The Gambia for the past 22 years has finally agreed to give up power and leave the …

The International Green Week has opened today in Berlin. The exhibition, which is the world’s biggest fair for food, agriculture and horticulture, will run until 29 January. In a total of 26 exhibition halls, about 1,500 national and international exhibitors present typical regional products and services and invite visitors to discover the world’s foods and other treats. The International Green …

The German parliament has voted to allow the use of the drug for medical purposes. The issue had been a point of heated discussion in the country for a long time. Members of Germany’s parliament Bundestag voted unanimously on Thursday 19 January to legalize the use of medical marijuana. Seriously ill patients will qualify for medical marijuana if they have …

With the swearing in of President Adama Barrow yesterday in Dakar, Senegal, The Gambia now has an internationally recognized leader. Analysts say the event signalled the end of the presidency of Yahya Jammeh. He is now effectively a rebel leader and all efforts are being made to persuade him to vacate the State House in Banjul and leave the country. …

British tour operator Thomas Cook started evacuating nearly 1,000 holidaymakers from Gambia on Wednesday (18 January) after President Yahya Jammeh declared a state of emergency on his final day in office, increasing the chances of civil unrest. In a statement on its website, Thomas Cook said it had activated its contingency plans and was laying on extra flights in the …

President-elect Adama Barrow has announced that he would be sworn in today at the Embassy of The Gambia in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.  The constitutional term of office of former President Yahya Jammeh elapsed at midnight yesterday (18 January). “I would like to inform you that the Inauguration Ceremony is going to take place at the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal,” …