The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation issued the decree late on Friday, citing the parties' failure to meet their legal obligations. Beyond stripping them of their legal status, the order froze their assets and banned the use of their names, logos and emblems, with a government-appointed curator assigned to oversee the transfer of their holdings.
A witness reported seeing several military pickup trucks carrying armed security forces and a machine gun-mounted armoured carrier deployed around the central administrative district of Kaloum, Reuters news agency reported. The presidential palace is also located in Kaloum. A security detail made up of police officers and special forces blocked access to the road leading to the prison on Tuesday morning, an AFP news agency journalist reported. An armoured vehicle belonging to the special forces was also visible in front of the prison.
Yusupha Mbye's mother pushes his wheelchair slowly across the tiled compound of their home in Kanifing, about 11km (seven miles) from The Gambia's capital, Banjul. The late-afternoon sun hangs low as she pauses to straighten a wrap over his legs, stopping briefly to catch her breath. He has been in this wheelchair since he was a teenager, she told Al Jazeera, wiping away tears. Twenty-six years later, I am still caring for him.