AVOID MUSLIM GAMBIA

The Gambia now an Islamic republic, says President Yahya Jammeh

Leader who quit Commonwealth in 2013 says Muslim-majority state will still respect others citizens’ faiths but he wants to shake off ‘colonial legacy’

December 11, 2015
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 country’s 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 Gambia’s 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.

In November the president announced he would outlaw female genital mutilation after international pressure that included a campaign by the Guardian. However activists have since said continued international pressure is needed for the president to pass his declaration into law.

Despite strong commercial ties with Britain and other European countries whose citizens are regular visitors to the Gambia’s white-sand beaches, relations with the west have deteriorated in recent years.

The European Union temporarily withheld aid money in 2014 over Gambia’s poor human rights record. The Gambia, whose main industries are agriculture and tourism, ranks 165 out of 187 countries on the UN development index.

The blogger Sidi Sanneh, a former foreign minister who has become a US-based dissident, said: “Starved of development funds because of his deplorable human rights record and economic mismanagement, Jammeh is looking towards the Arab world as substitute for and source of development aid.”

The Gambia is continental Africa's smallest country and it is one of the poorest in the region when it comes to GDP per capita. The principal ethnic groups are the Wollof and the Mandinka the former living mainly in the capital city of Banjul, while the latter constitute the single largest people of The Gambia. National identity is replacing ethnical identity, making The Gambia a melting pot of West African ethnic groups.

In The Gambia, domestic violence, including abuse, occasionally is reported, and its occurrence is believed to be fairly common. Police tend to consider these incidents to be domestic issues outside of their ordinary jurisdiction. Rape and assault are crimes under the law. The law does not differentiate between married and unmarried women in this regard. Laws generally are enforced. Neither sexual harassment nor de facto sexual discrimination are believed to be widespread. female genital mutilation (FGM) is widespread, especially in the countryside.

Social data
Life expectancy: Male: 51.29 years; female: 55.16 years (2000 est.)
Infant mortality: 79.29 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Literacy rate: Total population: 38.6%; male: 52.8%; female: 24.9% (1995 est.)
Medical services: 0.09 doctors each 1.000 inhabitants.
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female; 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 1.11 male(s)/female; total population: 1 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Religious data: Of a population of 1.33m, about 80.0% are Muslims, 11.2% are followers of African religions. 7.8% are Christians of different denominations including Anglicans, Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The majority of Gambians are strict in their religious practices. There is, however, no fanaticism and amity prevails between religious and ethnic groups.

Family and tradition
Families tend to educate their sons before their daughters. Women are most often employed in some kind of farming endeavors. Numerous childbirths are the norm.

Shari'a law usually is applied in divorce and inheritance matters for Muslims, who make up approximately 80 percent of the population. Women normally receive a lower proportion of assets distributed through inheritance than do male relatives. Marriages often are arranged and, depending on the ethnic group, polygyny (polygamy, where one man marries several women) is practiced. Women in polygynous unions have property and other rights arising from the marriage. They have the option to divorce, but not a legal right to approve or be notified in advance of subsequent marriages.

Active women's rights groups exist, which are focused primarily on economic issues and the elimination of female genital mutilation (FGM).

Gender sensitivity in society
Traditional views of women's roles result in extensive societal discrimination in education and employment. Families frequently educate male children before female children. Females constitute about 40 percent of primary school students and roughly 1/3 of high school students. Employment in the formal sector is open to women at the same salary rates as men. No statutory discrimination exists in other kinds of employment; however, women generally are employed in endeavors such as food vending or subsistence farming.

Depending on the ethnic group, marriages are often arranged and polygyny is practiced. Women have the option to divorce, but not a legal right to approve or be notified in advance of subsequent marriages. Gambian women give birth to 5.75 children on average.

The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, religion, disability, language, or social status, and the Government generally respects these prohibitions.

Health data
Access to potable water: 69%
Medical services: 0.07 doctors each 1.000 inhabitants. 60% of total population has no access to health services
Maternal mortality rate: 1.100/100.000.
Infant mortality: 79.29 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): Between 60 and 90% of girls undergo this procedure (est.). Seven of the nine major ethnic groups practice FGM at ages varying from shortly after birth until 18 years old. The practice of female genital mutilation, which is widely condemned by international health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological health, is widespread and entrenched. Reports place the number of women having been subjected to FGM at between 60 and 90 percent. Seven of the nine major ethnic groups practice FGM at ages varying from shortly after birth until 18 years old. In recent years, the Government publicly has supported efforts to eradicate FGM and discourages FGM through health education. However, the Government has not passed legislation against FGM, and FGM is not considered a criminal act. In February President Jammeh stated publicly that the Government would not ban FGM, and that FGM is a part of the country's culture.

Women activists are very much engaged fighting FGM in rural areas. One activist leader told afrol. that responses among men in general were surprisingly positive. However, there were substantial resistance among rural women concerning this issue. Muslim leaders have, under pressure from women activists, officially stated in the media that Islam should not be used as an excuse for carrying through the practice of FGM.

Violence against women
Domestic violence, including abuse, occasionally is reported, and its occurrence is believed to be fairly common. Police tend to consider these incidents to be domestic issues outside of their ordinary jurisdiction.

Rape and assault are crimes under the law. The law does not differentiate between married and unmarried women in this regard. Any person who has carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 16 is guilty of a felony (except in the case of marriage); incest is also illegal. These laws generally are enforced.

Neither sexual harassment nor de facto sexual discrimination are believed to be widespread, although individual instances have been noted.