Foreign relations of the Gambia Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Gambia has played an active role in that organization's efforts to resolve the Liberian Civil War and contributed troops to the community's cease-fire monitoring group (ECOMOG). It also has sought to mediate disputes in nearby Guinea-Bissau and the neighbouring Casamance region of Senegal. The People's Republic of China, Cuba, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America have embassies or high commissions in the Gambia. On 25 May 2005, the Gambia announced its readiness to establish full diplomatic relations with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
History of the Gambia captured on four occasions by the French, in 1695, 1702, 1704 and 1708. However, no attempt was made by France to occupy the fort permanently. At the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the French recognised the right of the English to James Island and their settlements on the River Gambia. One of the results of these wars was an outbreak of piracy along the West African coast. The English trade in the Gambia suffered heavily from the efforts of the pirates. In 1719, one pirate, Howel Davis, captured James Fort. In 1721, part of the garrison of the fort mutinied