Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh
on Friday declared the formerly secular country an Islamic republic in a
move he said was designed to distance the West African state further
from its colonial past.
The tiny sliver of a country, named after the river from which
British ships once allegedly fired cannonballs to fix its borders, joins
the ranks of other 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, the Gambia
cannot afford to continue the colonial legacy," he added.
Gambia's population of 1.8 million people is 95 percent
Muslim. He said that other 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
Gambia out of the Commonwealth in 2013, calling it neo-colonial. In
2007, he claimed to have found a herbal cure for AIDS.
source yahoo news.
No comments:
Post a Comment