Foreign relations of the Gambia 14 February 2017, The Gambia began the process of returning and formally presented its application to re-join to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on 22 January 2018. Boris Johnson, who became the first British Foreign Secretary to visit The Gambia since the country gained independence in 1965, announced that the British government welcomed The Gambia's return to the Commonwealth. The Gambia rejoined on 8 February 2018. Foreign relations of the Gambia The Gambia followed a formal policy of non-alignment throughout most of former President Dawda Jawara's tenure. It maintained close relations with the United Kingdom, Senegal, and other African countries. The July
The Gambia in 1992, and in 1997 Jammeh created a Gambia Navy (GN). Attempts to create a Gambia Air Force in the mid 2000s ultimately fell through. In 2008, Jammeh created a National Republican Guard, composed of special forces units. The GNA has a strength of roughly 900, in two infantry battalions and an engineering company. It makes use of Ferret and M8 Greyhound armoured cars. The GN is equipped with patrol vessels, and Taiwan donated a number of new vessels to the force in 2013. Since the GAF was formed in 1985, it has been active in UN and African Union