The Minister justified that The Gambia is part of ECOWAS and the authority of heads of state and government decided to set up the ECOWAS standby force. “The regional force is intended to fight against terrorism and unconstitutional change of government in the ECOWAS region as well as to restore peace and stability in the region,” he explained.
“ECOWAS pledged to commit a stabilization force in Sierra Leone after the attempted coup d'etat and additionally The Gambia also pledged a motorized company to support the ECOWAS mission in Sierra Leone contributing to the regional peace and security.”
The explanation came after Hon. Member for Latrikunda Sabiji, Yahya Sanyang, asked how the deployment of this troop fit in to the broader regional security context and what specific threat it intended to address as opposed to the idea that it is meant to entrench the sitting president.
Member Foni Bintang asked the minister whether the armed forces of Sierra Leone are not enough to defend the president of their country.
In response, the minister stated: “What I know is that the Gambia is part of the ECOWAS program in the stabilization mission in Sierra Leone. Whether the country's own defence and security forces cannot provide the necessary security, that is up to Sierra Leone to decide.
“But according to the mandates of ECOWAS, we have pledged a company to contribute to the troops in the stabilization mission.”
Asked how the government intended to explain the rationale behind sending peacekeepers to another country while they have peacekeepers in their own country, Minister Njie underscored: “We have not seen anywhere a country enjoying a peacekeeping mission cannot contribute also to another peacekeeping mission. So of course we can contribute to other missions under the auspices of the ECOWAS.”
The minister further informed parliament that “they are yet to do any deployment to Sierra Leone”.
He said: “The ECOWAS Commission and also the committees of chiefs of defence staff currently are meeting in Abuja to work on the modalities for the preparations for the deployment of the ECOWAS stabilization force.”
It would be recalled that the National Assembly of the Gambia on 17 September 2024 approved the deployment of the Armed Forces to restore peace, security, and stability in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The motion was tabled by Vice President Muhammad B.S. Jallow. In tabling the motion, he stated: “This deployment is intended to contribute to the ECOWAS Joint operation aimed at restoring, peace, security, and stability in Sierra Leone, following a recent attempted coup.”
