While the EU pulls funds from Gambia over its human rights record, the Middle East steps in
(Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly)
People are seen outside closed stores in the Gambian capital Banjul
The European Union is pulling the plug on funding to Gambia because of concerns about its human rights record amid concerns about the Islamification of the region.
It has withdrawn millions of euros of funding, leaving the mainly Muslim West African nation to rely increasingly on donors from the Middle East for development projects.
The shift in soft power is of concern to Western governments in a region where Islamist militancy in northern Nigeria and northern Mali is fuelling instability, diplomatic sources said.
"West Africa has a large, impressionable youth population that have no access to jobs. Their loyalty might be bought through aid, sometimes by those sympathetic to the Islamification of the region," said one diplomat.
Gambia was criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Council in October for restricting freedom of expression and numerous other rights violations.
In November, Gambia cut off dialogue with the European Union after President Yahya Jammeh returned from a visit to Qatar.
The EU decided unanimously in December that systematic abuse of human rights amounted to contravention of the Cotonou Agreement, an international accord that stipulates that aid can be delivered only in return for progress in human rights.
It took the decision weeks after Jammeh signed into law an act that could imprison homosexuals for life. There followed a crackdown on gays and lesbians, causing many to hide or flee into neighboring Senegal.
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While the EU pulls funds from Gambia over its human rights record, the Middle East steps in