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Gambia's parties pledge free elections amid rare protests

By AFP
Gambia People wearing t-shirts reading We are all Gambian demonstrate in Dakar on April 22, 2016.  By Seyllou AFPFile
APR 28, 2016 LISTEN
People wearing t-shirts reading "We are all Gambian" demonstrate in Dakar on April 22, 2016. By Seyllou (AFP/File)

Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambia's ruling party and the opposition have signed a joint pledge to promote free elections and peaceful politics amid rare protests and rising political tensions.

The pledge seen by AFP on Thursday, was signed a week ago, on April 22, in the capital Banjul in the presence of EU, UN and US diplomats, by the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) and opposition parties including the United Democratic Party (UDP).

The signature followed the arrests of 37 people after a rare opposition protest on April 14. The group, a few of whom are reported to be missing, have been denied bail on charges of rioting, illegal protest and other offences.

The pledge says that the ruling party and opposition agreed "to promote peaceful political party activities and the holding of free, fair and genuine elections."

A group is to be formed "to address the current political tensions and prevent future ones".

The protesters early this month had called for radical political reforms in the small west African nation ruled with an iron fist by President Yahya Jammeh since a coup in 1994.

In February, the 50-year-old Jammeh was named his party's candidate to seek a fifth mandate in a presidential poll in December. He was first elected head of state in 1996, two years after the bloodless coup.

The regime is regularly accused by watchdog bodies and the US State Department of making opponents forcibly disappear and harassing the press and independent broadcasting media.

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