Presidential Palace Attackers Sought in Gambia
by VOA News January 01, 2015
Forces loyal to the president of Gambia are going house to house in the capital, Banjul, in search of opponents responsible for the armed attack on his presidential palace this week.
President Yahya Jammeh said Thursday that the predawn violence Tuesday was not a coup because the military remained loyal to him. He said 'terrorists' supported by elements outside the country had launched the attack.
The president was out of the country at the time of the incident.
'There isn't any single participation of the armed forces, except for nullifying the attack,' he said. 'So it cannot be called a military coup, because I've seen in some media houses that they were saying a coup. This wasn't a coup, this was an attack by a terrorist group, backed by some powers that I won't name now, but of course we know where these dissidents are based.'
The French news agency AFP quoted a Gambian intelligence source who said dozens of Jammeh's political opponents had been arrested, interrogated and jailed. The government has not publicly confirmed that.
Jammeh seized power in the former British colony at age 29 in 1994. Human rights activists say he has long targeted political opponents, journalists and homosexuals.
The United Nations has condemned the violence in Gambia. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has called for a transparent investigation of Tuesday's events.
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