Name Momodou Sedat | ||
Gambia: Dr.Sedat Jobe talks to Freedom Radio
Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe (born July 24, 1944) was the Gambian Foreign Minister from 1998 to August 2001. He now lives in self-imposed exile in Sweden and is currently heading the pro-democracy group, the Gambia Consultative Council (GCC), which was established in 2013 and served as its president.
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Early life and education
Sedat Jobe was born on 24 July 1944 in Bansang, Gambia. He completed his higher education in France, finishing with a doctorate from the University of Grenoble in 1976.
Career
When he was not working as a career diplomat, he taught at the University of Dakar from 1974 to 1978 and Howard University from 1978 to 1980. He also worked for UNESCO latterly as its director of culture (1981–1996, 1996–1997).
He returned to the Gambian diplomatic service as an ambassador at large between 1996 and 1998 and was appointed secretary of state for external affairs in January 1998. As foreign minister, Jobe try to led an unsuccessful delegation to Guinea-Bissau to try to negotiate a settlement to the country's civil war that erupted in 1998. He resigned in August 2001, folloeing the expulsion of the deputy British high commissioner, Bharat Joshi.
He supported President Yahya Jammeh in the 2006 presidential election but later turned against him. In January 2013, he called for the military to overthrow Jammeh by force, while also strongly criticizing Mai Fatty, the leader of the Gambia Moral Congress.