The West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network is deeply concerned by the attempts by certain members of The Gambia Armed Forces to overthrow the constitutionally elected Government of the Republic of The Gambia. As a network of Civil Society Organizations committed to the peaceful, stable, and democratic development of our West African region, we categorically condemn this attempt to usurp the constitutional and democratic mandate of the people upon which The Gambia Government stands.
We take due cognizance of earlier statements released by The Gambia Civil Society and the ECOWAS condemning this development. In solidarity with both institutions, we join the million other voices of reason across the length and breadth of the ECOWAS region to express our strong dissatisfaction. At a time when democracy is under severe threat across the region, with terrorist insurgency and unconstitutional changes of governments, this incident comes as an affront to the consistent efforts aimed at restoring democracy, peace, and stability in the region.
We commend The Gambia Government for its swift response to neutralize this unscrupulous assault on democracy in The Gambia, as we urge them to observe due process and strictly uphold the rule of law in its subsequent investigations and sanctions in order to continue to live up to the challenge to serve and provide for the needs of all its citizens.
We take this opportunity to call on the ECOWAS and member countries to hasten the revision of the 2001 Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance to strengthen the necessary safeguards with respect to current challenges in the region, including that of presidential term limits, which has been a major source of unconstitutional changes of government. Again, we call for cross-border support for security and intelligence among member countries to combat the rising insecurity and recurrent coups in the region.
We stand in solidarity with the people of The Gambia in their hope and their vision to transform the country into a haven of stability, freedom, and prosperity for all its people. And it is our utmost desire to see the sovereignty and the agency of the people of The Gambia thrive in the spirit of democracy and constitutionalism.
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