By Lamin Njie
One hundred and fifty soldiers on Wednesday left The Gambia for Senegal to participate in a training program that will last for three months, with nine women taking part.
The Gambia has been building a new presidential guard, an elite unit that will ultimately be in charge of the security the president and the State House.
The new presidential guard of The Gambia currently boasts of 150 soldiers, but once the new 150 soldiers finish their training, it will bring the number to 300.
On Monday, chief defense staff Masanneh Kinteh met with the soldiers at the army’s training school in Fajara to bid them farewell.
The top general said the training was part of a ‘journey started over two years ago when there was a peaceful change of government in this country for the first time, and there was a need to be able to reconstituted the presidential guard that will be there to serve the interest of the people of this country.’
“One of the first moves undertaken by the new administration is to ensure that the former presidential guard that was used by the previous regime in instituting regime security and some elements were also used to abuse and violate the human rights of the people of this country, needs to be removed and redeployed and reformed in the armed forces. Therefore there was a need to be able to reconstitute the State Guard Battalion,” General Kinteh said.
