The government of Gambia ordered female government employees on Tuesday to wear headscarves at workplace in a sign that the West African country is embracing a Muslim identity, one month after President Yahya Jammeh declared it as an Islamic republic.
Starting this year, female workers are no longer allowed to expose their hair, said a memo circulated to all ministries and departments.
"Female staff are urged to use head ties and neatly wrap their hair", the memo said. Around 95 percent of Gambia's population of 1.8 million people are Muslims, and the country is now the second Islamic republic in Africa after Mauritania. Other Islamic countries include Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
President Jammeh said last month that the move was designed to distance Gambia from its past as a British colony, noting that citizens of other faiths would still be able to practice their beliefs.
Despite strong commercial ties with Britain and other European countries whose citizens are regular visitors to Gambia's white-sand beaches, relations with the West have deteriorated in recent years.
source : abna24
