Throngs cheer new president’s return

BAnJUL, GAMBIA » President Adama Barrow returned triumphantly to Gambia on Thursday, nearly two months after winning an election disputed by the country’s longtime dictator, to the cheers of hundreds of thousands who jammed the roads in welcome.

“That’s my president!” the crowds cried, eager to see Barrow fulfill the promise of democratic reforms and newfound freedoms in this tiny West African nation.

The impasse after the Dec. 1 balloting had brought Gambia to the brink of military intervention, as regional leaders vowed to install the democratically elected Barrow despite legal efforts by longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh to overturn the result of the vote. Barrow had flown to Banjul from Senegal, where he had waited for Jammeh to leave Gambia.

“Barrow! Barrow!” people shouted from atop vehicles as far as the eye could see at sunset Thursday as the president’s convoy made its way through Banjul.