The Gambia now an Islamic republic, says President Yahya Jammeh
Source: The Guardian
The Gambia has been declared an Islamic republic by President Yahya Jammeh who said he wanted to further distance the west African state from its colonial past.
The tiny, formerly secular country named after the river from which British ships are said to have fired cannonballs to fix its borders joins the ranks of other officially Islamic republics such as Iran and Afghanistan.
In line with the countrys religious identity and values I proclaim Gambia as an Islamic state, said Jammeh on state television. As Muslims are the majority in the country, Gambia cannot afford to continue the colonial legacy. The Gambias population of 1.8 million people are 95% Muslim. Jammeh said citizens of other faiths would still be able to practise.
Jammeh, an animated orator who has earned the reputation for making surprise declarations over the course of his 21-year presidency, pulled the Gambia out of the Commonwealth in 2013, calling it neo-colonial. In 2007 he claimed to have found a herbal cure for Aids.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/12/gambia-now-an-islamic-republic-says-president-yahya-jammeh
Nonhlanhla
(2,074 posts)See around 2.28
DFW
(54,436 posts)My next big vacation was planned to the Seychelles, New Zealand, Tahiti and the Gambia, and now I'll have to scratch one of the highlights.......
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)daleo
(21,317 posts)What does it actually mean, to declare a country to be an Islamic State, anyway?
Herman4747
(1,825 posts)...just got worse.