Gambia: The people who stood up to Yahya Jammeh - Talk to Al Jazeera

On January 21 2017, Yahya Jammeh boarded a plane at Banjul's international airport and left the country he had ruled for 22 years.

Jammeh had refused to accept defeat in the Gambian presidential elections the month before. West African heads of state set off on a month-long marathon negotiation, taking turns to get Jammeh to accept the results. Eventually, they gave him an ultimatum: step down or 7,000 soldiers from the region step in to take back control of the country.

On January 19, foreign troops marched in as the country's elected leader, Adama Barrow, was sworn in.

Jammeh took power in a bloodless coup in 1994, when he was a 29-year-old lieutenant.

"We have no plans to stay long. What we are here for is to set a just system and to put up structures so that what happened in the past 13 years will never happen again," he said at the time.

But soon, Jammeh had swapped his army uniform for a white traditional robe and adopted a more authoritarian tone.

He ruled the country with an iron fist - imprisoning critics and political opponents. Human rights organisations accused him and his security forces of torture and enforced disappearances.

We talk to the men and women who helped bring Yahya Jammeh's 22-year rule to an end.

More from Talk To Al Jazeera on:

YouTube - http://aje.io/ttajYT
Facebook - http://facebook.com/talktoaj
Twitter - http://twitter.com/talktoaljazeera
Website - http://www.aljazeera.com/talktojazeera/

- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe
- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish
- Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera
- Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/

Видео Gambia: The people who stood up to Yahya Jammeh - Talk to Al Jazeera канала Al Jazeera English