Preventive Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution in West Africa: The Case of the 2016 Gambian Election Crisis

Abstract

Yahyah Jammeh’s refusal to step down created conflict amongst the people of Gambia. Review of literature indicates that an inherently advantageous quality of preventive diplomacy is promoting the rights of citizens in conflict situations. The research methodology for this study was the qualitative approach and relied on primary and secondary sources of data. Findings of the study shows that preventive diplomacy in the case of the Gambia came in the form of appeals to Yahyah Jammeh prior to the elections to sign an agreement to have a free and fair election and the opposition given an equal playing ground to participate in the election. Another finding is that ECOWAS with the consent of the United Nations and President-elect Adama Barrow had a clear legal mandate to threaten the use of force in order to protect democracy in the Gambia following conflict in the country. ECOWAS managed to restore democracy in the country by applying preventive diplomacy tools using mediation, negotiations and the threat of force, but without any use of direct physical violence. The study concludes that preventive diplomacy, an action which requires diplomatic tools to prevent disputes from arising and existing conflict from escalating played an instrumental role in preventing a likelihood of a violent conflict in the Gambia during the election crisis in 2016. Recommendations of the study are made in line of improving track one form of preventive diplomacy as applied in Gambia. Another recommendation is the use of military intervention in preventive mechanism as effective when diplomatic talks fail.