Authorities in the Gambia have foiled a military coup attempt and detained four soldiers plotting to overthrow President Adama Barrow, the government said on Wednesday.
The Gambian Armed Forces High Command arrested four soldiers linked to the alleged coup after a military operation on Tuesday.
Gambia with 2.5 million people almost entirely surrounded by Senegal, has witnessed several coup attempts. Governance has been reeling for decades under former president Yahya Jammeh marked by totalitarianism and alleged human right abuses.
Jammeh himself grabbed power in a coup in 1994 and foiled several coup attempts to overthrow him before Barrow defeated him in a 2016 national poll.
His ouster was widely viewed as a boost for democracy, although there has been growing frustration with Barrow’s government for its failure to address poverty and rising living costs.
Investigations are underway to apprehend three other alleged accomplices of the foiled coup.
