Editing The Gambia (section)

===Foreign relations===

{{Main|Foreign relations of the Gambia}}

[[File:Yahya Jammeh with Obamas 2014.jpg|thumb|[[Yahya Jammeh]] and Mrs. [[Zeinab Jammeh]] with [[Barack Obama|Barack]] and [[Michelle Obama]] in the [[White House]], August 2014]]

The Gambia followed a formal policy of non-alignment throughout most of former President Jawara's tenure. It maintained close relations with the United Kingdom and with Senegal and other African countries. The July 1994 coup strained The Gambia's relationship with Western powers, particularly the United States, which until 2002 suspended most non-humanitarian assistance in accordance with Section 508 of the [[Foreign Assistance Act]]. After 1995, President Jammeh established diplomatic relations with several additional countries, including [[Libya]] (suspended in 2010), and [[Cuba]].<ref name="bn">[https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5459.htm "Background note: The Gambia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022010255/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5459.htm |date=2020-10-22}}. U.S. Department of State (October 2008).{{PD-notice }}</ref> The [[China|People's Republic of China]] cut ties with The Gambia in 1995 – after the latter established diplomatic links with [[Taiwan]] – and re-established them in 2016.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wong |first1=Chun Han |title=Beijing Resumes Formal Ties With Gambia, in Signal to Taipei |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/beijing-resumes-formal-ties-with-gambia-in-signal-to-taipei-1458233742?mod=fox_australian |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=17 March 2016 |access-date=19 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319140747/http://www.wsj.com/articles/beijing-resumes-formal-ties-with-gambia-in-signal-to-taipei-1458233742?mod=fox_australian |archive-date=19 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

As a member of the [[Economic Community of West African States]] (ECOWAS), The Gambia has played an active role in that organisation's efforts to resolve the civil wars in [[Liberia]] and Sierra Leone and contributed troops to the community's [[Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group|ceasefire monitoring group]] (ECOMOG) in 1990 and ([[ECOMIL]]) in 2003.<ref name="bn" /> In November 2019, The Gambia filed [[Rohingya genocide case|a case against Myanmar in The Hague]], accusing its military of genocide against Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya community.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/11/gambia-rohingya-genocide-myanmar-un-court |title=Gambia files Rohingya genocide case against Myanmar at UN court |first=Owen |last=Bowcott |date=11 November 2019 |access-date=7 April 2020 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=15 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215191826/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/11/gambia-rohingya-genocide-myanmar-un-court |url-status=live}}</ref>

Under Yahya Jammeh, The Gambia was also backing up rebels of MFDC in Casamance in southern Senegal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bridge opening further reduces Senegal-Gambia interstate war risks and improves peace settlement prospects with Casamance secessionists |url=https://ihsmarkit.com/country-industry-forecasting.html?id=10659123121 |access-date=29 December 2021 |website=IHS Markit}}</ref> The subsequent worsening of the human rights situation placed increasing strains on US–Gambian relations.<ref name="bn" />

The Gambia withdrew from the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] on 3 October 2013, with Jammeh's government stating it had "decided that The Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24376127 |title=UK regrets The Gambia's withdrawal from Commonwealth |newspaper=BBC News |date=3 October 2013 |access-date=22 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506140901/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24376127 |archive-date=6 May 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> Under the Barrow government, The Gambia began the process of returning to its status as a [[republic in the Commonwealth of Nations]] with the support of the British government, formally presenting its application to re-join the Commonwealth to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on 22 January 2018,<ref name="boris" /><ref name=cwlthre/> returning to its status as a republic in the Commonwealth of Nations on 8 February 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gambia, The |url=https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/gambia |website=Commonwealth |language=en}}</ref>

====List of international organisation memberships====

* [[Commonwealth of Nations]]
* [[Economic Community of West African States]] (ECOWAS)
* [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]]<ref name=oicmems>{{cite web |title=Member States |url=http://www.oic-oci.org/states/?lan=en |website=OIC |access-date=31 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609063319/http://www.oic-oci.org/states/?lan=en |archive-date=9 June 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[United Nations]]
* [[African Union]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Member States |url=https://au.int/en/memberstates |website=African Union |access-date=31 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107025239/https://au.int/en/memberstates |archive-date=7 November 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Organisation of Islamic Cooperation |url=https://www.oic-oci.org/states/?lan=en |access-date=6 May 2024 |website=www.oic-oci.org |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120203028/http://www.oic-oci.org/states/?lan=en |url-status=live }}</ref>