The skinny West African state of The Gambia is little more than two riverbanks and a sluggish tropical river but has built itself a reputation as a budget tourist destination for holidaymakers in search of sex and winter sun.

British and French colonialists fought for what was then a key staging post in the transatlantic slave trade. Britain won and for almost 200 years controlled Africa’s smallest mainland nation: half the size of Wales, the sliver of a country is surrounded by Senegal and the sea. After independence in 1965 The Gambia developed a reputation for democracy. That ended with the bloodless coup that brought Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh to power in 1994.

Mr Jammeh, now 43, has held elections and won a third term in office in 2006, but all his victories have been marred by intimidation. Opposition activists are arrested, beaten and detained without charge. Amid his regular fits of paranoia, army officers are flung into jail accused of coup plotting. He has called for the beheading of all homosexuals. He also claims to have a cure for Aids (herbs smeared on the body and a diet of bananas). A UN official who questioned the “cure” was thrown out.

The Gambia is a popular tourist destination. It offers cheap winter sun, and beach boys are often part of the experience for lonely Shirley Valentines. But the authorities are growing concerned about increasing reports of child sex tourism.

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