President Adama Barrow with the Senegalese ECOMIG contingent. Source: Facebook.
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Claim: A Facebook user shared a video claiming that Senegalese soldiers are providing security for the Gambian president instead of the Gambian military.
Verdict: Misleading. DUBAWA found that the shared video was originally shot when President Adama Barrow bid farewell to the Senegalese Economic Community of West African States’ Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG), or contingent, following the completion of their duty in March 2026 at the State House.
Full Text
On July 21, 2026, Sulayman Cham, a Facebook user with 30,000 followers, posted a video of President Adama Barrow at State House, surrounded by Senegalese soldiers who were singing.
The post caption read, “Gambia now everything is left to us if we want this to continue in our country or not. Let’s come together and vote him out, and also sovereignty is at stake here.”
Seeing the caption was unclear, a user, Alieu Jammeh, asked, “Can someone explain to me what is going on here?”
The claimant, Sulayman Cham, then responded, saying, “Senegalese giving security to our President while our own gallant military are ignored.”
As of July 30, 2026, the video (archived here) had 387 likes and 146 comments. While some Facebook users questioned its validity, the majority believed the claim to be true.
Reacting to the post, a user, Muhammed Jammeh, wrote, “Yes, nothing but the truth you’re saying, my brother.”
Another user, Kassim Camara, wrote, “Senegalese soldiers should leave because we trusted them to protect us, but now we are seeing them entering Gambian territory.”
However, Yusupha Jammeh doubted and asked, “Is this an AI or real? If I may ask?”
Due to ongoing conversations about Senegalese soldiers and The Gambia, especially the recent territorial claim in Bullock, DUBAWA decided to verify the claim.
Verification
We separated the video into keyframes and conducted a Google reverse image search. We found that the video first appeared in March 2026. The post revealed this was when the president bid farewell to the Senegalese Economic Community of West African States’ Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG) contingent. GRTS news also reported this development.
The contingent consists of soldiers and gendarmerie who are providing services as part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mission in The Gambia, following The Gambia’s 2016 elections and fears of political unrest.
The video was recorded several months ago and was later reposted by the claimant to promote a new narrative.
Conclusion
Our findings show that the video was originally shot in March 2026, when President Adama bid farewell to the Senegalese Economic Community of West African States’ Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG) contingent upon the completion of their duty. The claim is misleading.
This report was produced under the 2026 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking and OSINT Fellowship, co-hosted by DUBAWA and the Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Information Disorder Analysis Centre (DAIDAC), with support from the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
