When Adama Barrow became The Gambia's new president in January 2017, he quickly reversed many of his predecessor's isolationist policies. After 22 years of authoritarian rule under Yahya Jammeh - who had to be pressured to leave the country by a regional military intervention when he refused to step down after losing the elections - the democratically-elected President Barrow announced The Gambia would rejoin the Commonwealth and the International Criminal Court (ICC). At the same time, international support for the country renewed, with donors at an EU-organised conference in 2018 pledging $1.7 billion over three years to spur The Gambia's economic growth and strengthen its democratic institutions.
Despite this foreign support, however, Barrow's domestic support has been shaky. This is partly due to the way he came to power. Barrow was never the leader of a political party, but was chosen to head an opposition alliance for the December 2016 elections, which formed after security forces detained and killed members of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP). Barrow had been part of the UDP, but resigned his membership so he could lead the coalition without favouring any one of its seven constituent parties.
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