Gambia has repelled a coup attempt, as three alleged collaborators and four military members were seized in connection with the incident, the country's government said on Wednesday.
"Based on intelligence reports [...] some soldiers of the Gambian army were plotting to overthrow the democratically elected government," the statement read, as cited by the media.
President Adama Barrow was supposedly the target of the purported coup, but there is no exact information on who was behind the plot. The government provided a few details but, according to the media, some eyewitness accounts suggest there were soldier movements near the presidential headquarters in the center of Gambia's capital, Banjul.
The country's government said that the "situation is under total control and there is no need to panic", and an investigation is ongoing.
Barrow won the 2016 election, defeating Yahya Jammeh, who had held office since 1994 after seizing power in a coup. Before Jammeh, Gambia’s first president, Dawda Jawara, ran the country for 24 years. Jammeh refusal to accept the 2016 results and leave office led to political turmoil and military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). As a result, Jammeh was driven into exile in Equatorial Guinea. However, he reportedly still has personal authority in Gambia.
There were no details in the government's statement on whether the latest coup attempt was connected with the previous regime.
It wasn't the first attempt to overthrow Barrow's administration. A year after he came to power, eight former soldiers reportedly plotted a coup against the incumbent president. But they were arrested and sentenced to jail in 2019 on a charge of conspiracy.