Shocking: Gambia govt. Shuts down internet and international calls

Gambia election: Government shuts down internet as President Yahya Jammeh faces threat to 22-year rule

Image by newstime Africa

Eight opposition parties have united around one candidate in calling for regime change



Gambia has shut down the internet and blocked all international phone calls as the nation goes to the polls for its presidential elections.

Analysts say there is a chance the people of the small west African nation will vote out the regime of President Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in a military coup in 1994 and later amended the constitution to remove presidential term limits.

Up against Mr Jammeh is the former London security guard Adama Barrow, who is supported by an alliance of eight opposition parties clamouring for regime change. “He is not going to be re-elected - his era is finished,” Mr Barrow said on Thursday.

In a Human Rights Watch report released last month, activists said Mr Jammeh had used state resources and dominated state media to ensure a political advantage in the election, while authorities “threatened, arbitrarily arrested, jailed, and tortured members of opposition political parties”.