By Omar Bar
The European Union (EU) Delegation in Banjul, The Gambia, maintains a strong and evolving partnership with the country, especially since its democratic transition in 2017. This relationship is marked by significant development assistance, support for democratic reforms, and economic cooperation.
Since 2017, the EU has committed over €500 million to The Gambia, including immediate and medium-term packages aimed at stabilising public finances, supporting governance reforms, and promoting sustainable development.
EU funding has contributed to infrastructure improvements, such as constructing/rehabilitation of 104 kilometers of feeder roads to improve rural access.
Other sectors supported include agriculture, food security, climate change adaptation, job creation (especially for youth), and civil society strengthening.
To put all these into context, EU Ambassador Immaculada Roca Cortés recently sat down with Omar Bah, The Standard Newspaper deputy editor for a question-and-answer interview called The Diplomat.
Excerpts:
The Standard: Madam Ambassador, since you are still less than a year into your mission in Banjul, can you kindly give us your general perspective about The Gambia?
EU Ambassador: For me, this is my first direct experience living in an African country – I have been to several African countries for work and tourism reasons. But to answer your question, I think The Gambia is the perfect introduction. It is a country that is honoured to be called the Smiling Coast of Africa. Not only do people smile but you feel the smile as well. It is a country that welcomes, accepts and allows you to have a very constructive relation with everybody and this is something that as diplomats we appreciate very much because having those openings when we arrive is important. I am still in my learning course because I just arrived seven months ago and I see Gambians helping very much in this learning course and again open and welcoming.
The country is in a very interesting moment… I think it is seven years since the democratic transition and that gives a bit of perspective. The country has made incredible progress in seven years in this aspect. The efforts that the government is putting now through the National Development Plan (NDP) into the development of the country in increasing job opportunities, economic expansion, access to energy, food, etc, are commendable. Also, you see people in the streets asking for a democracy that delivers and this is very important.
The Gambia is also a very stable and peaceful country. These are not just features to be taken for granted because stability and peace are the basis for the consolidation of a democratic process and economic development. Therefore, I am very happy to be here and to be able to lead the team of the European Union that will be supporting and accompanying The Gambia in these processes.
The European Union has been very instrumental in The Gambia’s transition process.
Seven years down line, what is the EU’s impression of the country’s transition, especially its security sector reform and constitutional building?
As I was mentioning, it’s only seven years and it seems a lot but there is democratic transition that we are working on and transition is something that is never easy. It needs time and will. Will of the government and the will of the people and I think The Gambia has both, and that is a very good ingredient for a very good recipe for success. The European Union engaged very much from the beginning with The Gambia. The EU has made an important effort in terms of budget and economic assistance.
This is mostly because we are genuinely happy to welcome The Gambia into the democratic family and we are genuinely committed to helping The Gambia succeed. This is why we have committed more than €500 million to The Gambia in different aspects ranging from governance, inclusive and green economic growth and in human capital. But governance has been probably the biggest pillar and when I talk about the biggest pillar, I am not talking about money but engagements.
We have been working on constitutional building, security sector reform, and transitional justice.
On the security sector reform, we have been supporting the police very much.
We have constructed together with GIZ, four police stations and some others will come soon. We have worked very much training police officers on work related matters and how to tackle gender and sexual based violence cases which are a genuine problem in the country. We want to continue reinforcing community service policing that is, police that is integrated within the community and serves the community. We have also supported the security sector reform with DCAF in accompanying policy formulation and much training. We have been working as well through regional projects to enhance the capabilities of the police on elaborating regional databases to have fingerprints and assets that are regionally consolidated, and that can be used to track people or assets in case there is a crime. We have been engaging as well in exchange of information in international crime activities including drug seizures.
We have been working as well with the security agencies on guaranteeing civilian oversight of their work because it is important that the security has civilian oversight and be in the service of the community. We have work on technical systems and enhancing capabilities.
Those are part of the things that we have done in the security sector. We have as well work through budget support enhancing legislative regulatory changes and training.
On the transitional justice process: This is a very important process to consolidate a democratic transition.
We believe that the country and its people need to heal. And in that sense, we have been working with quite a few institutions such as the National Human Rights Commission, the National Assembly, and the Judiciary.
We are now building one court room, and renovating another one, that will be a key element of the TRRC cases that are going to be prosecuted domestically.
We are also supporting civil society and the National Assembly to understand and adopt processes and learn how to deal with certain topics like reviewing and designing a budget or adopting a code of conduct for example.
We are doing so through projects like the EU-UNDP GREAT and CODE project implemented by International IDEA.
We are also supporting the establishment of the Special Prosecutor office and the establishment of the Anti-Corruption commission. Like for the SSR, we have also some budget indicators that are linked to transitional justice. There are lots of different works being done focusing on the transitional justice, done in a sustainable manner, having in mind that those are capabilities that will remain in the country.
Constitution
When it comes to the Constitutional building process, this is a sovereign exercise of the Gambian people. The EU is just a partner and a friend. We want to accompany a process that is owned and dictated by the Gambian people and where we will not be getting into content. What we would really like to see is a process that suits the country, and ends up with a Constitution that is consensual and serves the citizens. A Constitution that people will feel comfortable with. What we have been doing with civil society, the National Assembly, and the National Human Rights Commission is supporting a process that is inclusive, discussed, and a consensus building approach.
We really hope that The Gambia will be able to have a Constitution soon enough to be able to organise the next cycle of elections under a New Constitution.
But again, as I said, we are very conscious of the complexity of a transition and we are ready to continue supporting the process as long as the Gambian people allow us.
How does the EU engage The Gambia in areas of human rights especially when it comes to its commitment to the UN Human Rights Council?
The European Union engages with The Gambia on human rights in different aspects. We dialogue with the government and civil society.
We do engage in cooperation and we do support the NHRC which is the body that has been entrusted for the follow-up, monitoring and awareness creation on human rights in the country.
We are very much engaging with the media in order to train journalists to understand that they have a role and a responsibility in a democratic environment. We give them tools to do the job. It is a very important job that journalists do in the country and they need to be given all the tools necessary to do it freely, openly, transparently and with the required responsibility.
We commend the government for all the work they have gone through in the last seven years. It has been globally acknowledged. I think the fact that The Gambia has been re-elected to the UN Human Rights Commission, is a clear acknowledgement of the international Community towards the efforts that the country has been doing.
The Gambia has been applauded very much for the initiative against the alleged violations of the Myanmar Rohingya Muslims. We are also very thankful and happy to see The Gambia and the European Union being aligned in most of the important human rights issues.
For instance, we are working very hard together on the basis of the UN Charter to vote on the UN Resolutions against the Russian unjustified aggression towards Ukraine.
We want to ensure a long-standing solution that will guarantee the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
To be continued
