Gambia: President Yahya Jammeh back in country after “coup attempt”

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh arrived back in the capital Banjul on Wednesday, official sources said, one day after gunfire erupted around the presidential palace and the government denied media reports of a coup attempt.

Jammeh was out of the country when the disturbances broke out and he returned home via N’Djamena, Chad – where he told officials during a refueling stop on Tuesday evening that he planned to return home.

Banks reopened on Wednesday, people headed to work and the city’s key Denton Bridge was also open, witnesses said.

On Tuesday, state radio played traditional music and an announcer read a government statement playing down the incident. “Contrary to rumors being circulated, peace and calm continue to prevail in The Gambia,” it said. “The government would like to urge the public and all businesses to continue with their normal activities.”

Gambia, a country surrounded by Senegal, has ocean beaches that attract tourists, particularly during the northern hemisphere’s winter.

Witnesses in the center of the capital Banjul, which is situated on an island and connected to rest of the city by the Denton Bridge, said on Tuesday that security forces were stationed on street corners and patrolled streets after hours of shooting earlier in the day.

In 2013, Gambia withdrew from the Commonwealth – a bloc of 54 nations made up largely of former British colonies – branding the organisation a “neo-colonial institution”, and irrelevant to its’ goals