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The Gambia's ex-ruler Yahya Jammeh plundered the state coffers in his final weeks in power, stealing millions of dollars and shipping out luxury vehicles by cargo plane, according to an aide to new president Adama Barrow.
Jammeh, who ruled the small West African country for 22 years, flew into exile late on Saturday [Jan 21] to Equatorial Guinea.
He had refused to concede defeat in a December 1 election but eventually relinquished power after a delegation of West African leaders convinced him to step down, even as troops from neighbouring countries entered The Gambia.
[...] But amid growing controversy over the assurances offered to Jammeh to guarantee his departure, Barrow adviser Mai Fatty said the new administration had discovered that millions of dollars had recently been stolen.
[...] "Over two weeks, over 500m dalasi ($11 million) were withdrawn" by Jammeh, he said. "As we take over, the government of The Gambia is in financial distress."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @08:53AM
The most thing I was surprised about was how the power transfer was handled. Many western countries could learn from that.
This situation could have ended in a bloody mess, resulting in a civil war. Yet ECOWAS proved that African countries can handle such situation just fine without western intervention.