The Republic of Gambia has retained Washington, D.C.-based government consulting firm Scribe Strategies & Advisors to represent that country’s interests in the U.S.

The West African nation was recently thrown into a constitutional crisis after its shocking presidential election in December, when opposition candidate Adama Barrow defeated longtime leader Yahya Jammeh, who later refused to cede his office.

Jammeh, who had been Gambia’s president for 22 years after seizing power in a 1994 coup d’etat over former Gambia President Dawda Jawara, abdicated only after neighboring countries sent troops across the Gambian border to intervene and enforce the country’s constitution. Barrow took the oath of office at the Gambian embassy in Dakar, Senegal, in late January.

Gambia

According to Foreign Agents Registration Act documents filed in January, Scribe has been hired “to communicate with the Trump Administration about the legitimacy of the election of President Adama Barrow and to assure that the will of the Gambian people will be respected.”

Scribe will also work closely with Gambia's Ambassador to the United States, Sheikh Omar Faye, in assessing the country's political situation “in order to effectively promote and restore the rule of law and democratic governance in the Gambia, as well as to work diligently to solidify and expand the Gambia's productive relationships with the government, businesses, and individuals in the United States.”

The year-long pact also calls for Scribe providing strategic advice with the aim of “strengthening the Gambia's general bilateral relations with the United States, its government, and institutions. Scribe will also assist in communicating priority issues in the United States-Gambia bilateral relationship to relevant U.S. audiences, including the U.S. Congress, Executive Branch, news media, businesses, and policy community, including think tanks, advocacy groups, and academic institutions).”

Gambia joins Scribe’s roster of foreign government clients that include Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, South Africa, South Sudan and Swaziland.