Gambian lawmakers on Tuesday ended a state of emergency and revoked the extension of power for Yahya Jammeh, who lost in the last election. Jammeh was defeated in a December election by Adama Barrow [BBC profiles]. The state of emergency and extension [JURIST report] were instated last week as Jammeh attempted to hold onto power [JURIST report]. Jammeh finally agreed to step down and is in exile in Equatorial Guinea. Barrow was sworn in last Thursday and will return to Gambia this week.

In November Human Rights Watch reported that intimidation of opposition leaders was threatening [JURIST report] a fair election in Gambia. This report came after the Gambian government announced that it would be leaving [JURIST report] the International Criminal Court (ICC). During the televised statement, Information Minister Sheriff Bojang criticized the court for ignoring western atrocities, referring to the ICC as “an International Caucasian Court.” Jammeh had previously called upon the court to investigate the death of African migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to access Europe. Instead, Gambia alleges, the ICC has been disproportionately scrutinizing African leaders. Gambia’s intended departure was the third by an African nation.