The EU has pledged its support to the new leaders of the Gambia with hundreds of millions of euros, shoring up a country that is “virtually bankrupt” after two decades of Yahya Jammeh’s rule.

Aid to the Gambia dried up under Jammeh, whose record of human rights violations, along with his habit of pulling out of international institutions and throwing out diplomats, alienated donors.

Now, after promises from the new government to defend human rights, protect media freedom and rejoin the international criminal court and the Commonwealth, the EU has become the first to commit major funding to what has become known as “the new Gambia”.

steve, more followup on Gambia.