Conferencia #ÁfricaEsNoticia: Gambia, una transición histórica, por José Naranjo

The journalist who collaborates with El País in Africa and the winner of the Canary Islands Communications award, José Naranjo, was the only Spanish correspondent present in Gambia in the days, only a month ago, when this small West African country experienced some exceptional events. The president who had ruled the country with an iron hand for the past 22 years, Yaya Jammeh, was defeated in the elections by an opposition coalition which was led by Adama Barrow and which had great support from civil society despite the obvious risk that entailed.

The reaction of the now ex-president, who rejected the results and declared a State of Emergency in the country, raised fears of a bloodbath. However, the involvement of the African Union, through the personal mediation of various heads of state, managed to reverse the situation and force Jammeh to leave the country. And all this without a single shot being fired.

In this new series of Casa África’s conferences #Áfricaesnoticia, Pepe Naranjo will tell us how Gambia has lived through this historic transition, how the African countries reacted to Jammeh’s refusal to leave power and what this small country, whose burgeoning tourist industry craves peace and wellbeing, can expect from now on.

Is what happened in Gambia a message to other African regimes? Will it make the Gambian case a watershed in African politics and in the role of the African Union? Naranjo will talk to us about all of this on Thursday 23 February at 7.30pm in Casa África’s Nelson Mandela Auditorium, in an event that will be attended by some of the Canary Islands’ Gambian residents, from whom we’ll hear their assessment of this historic process.

Free admission. Limited capacity.

Read articles by Naranjo in El País

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