Abdoullie Sanyang’s False Claims on ECOMIG Deployment

By Mai Ahmed Fatty

Recent claims by Abdoulie Sanyang regarding the 2017 ECOMIG deployment in The Gambia are nothing short of deliberate falsehoods. Any suggestion that he had knowledge of, or played a role in, the intervention is a distortion of history and a fabrication of the highest order. As someone directly involved at the forefront of the negotiations, I can state unequivocally that Sanyang’s assertions are baseless. I was the only Coalition Leader who attended the first closed-door meeting of ECOWAS Heads of State in Abuja in December 2016, where the legality of regional military intervention in The Gambideliberated. I also participated in the decisive Bamako meeting with President-elect Adama Barrow, where the decision to intervene militarily was unanimously endorsed. In Abuja, I was accompanied by Hon. Hamat Bah on behalf of the Coalition. During consultations at Aso Rock, I was summoned alone by the Heads of State to present the legal and political justification for intervention. In Bamako, I joined President-elect Barrow in the critical session where ECOWAS leaders resolved to authorize the use of force to uphold the will of the Gambian people. These engagements, along with numerous bilateral negotiations, were conducted under strict secrecy and delicate diplomacy, entrusted to me with the full authority of then President-elect Barrow. As the first Minister of Interior under the Coalition Government, I was fully privy to the high-level decisions shaping the ECOMIG mission in The Gambia. Abdoulie Sanyang’s claims are, therefore, not only false but also indicative of a troubling propensity for disinformation.

It is both shocking and disappointing that Sanyang would resort to such fabrications. His assertions are reckless, misleading, and without merit. The truth of The Gambia’s transition must not be distorted by fanciful inventions.