The Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) has expressed gratitude to President Jammeh, following the completion of a post-graduate degree course in the United Kingdom by Lieutenant Colonel Lamin Gano, the military assistant to the chief of Defence Staff and the procurement officer of GAF, a press release from the Ministry of  Defence  has revealed.

Below we reproduce the full text of the release.
The Gambia Armed Forces has once again registered yet another academic boost with the recent graduation of lieutenant Colonel Lamin Gano with a Master of Arts Degree with Merit from the prestigious University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. It could be recalled that in September 2008, Lieutenant Colonel Lamin Gano was sponsored to study a Master of Arts programme in African Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Bradford by H.E the President and commander-in-chief of the Gambia Armed Forces Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya A.J.J Jammeh. 

The scholarship  package is part of His Excellency`s commitment to develop the professional and intellectual capacity of the Gambia Armed Forces, in line with his vision to transform our Armed Forces into a credible defence force that is professionally trained, well equipped and highly motivated to enable it to effectively discharge her constitutional and other assigned roles.

Lieutenant Colonel Lamin Gano studied the following modules:
a. Perspectives on Security and Development.
b. African Approaches to Conflict Resolution.
c. African Security Studies.
d.  African Politics.
e.  Introduction to Peace Studies.
f.    And he participated  in a Study Tour to Nairobi in Kenya to conduct a research on the theme "Post-Election Violence"

In partial fulfillment for the award of his Master`s degree, Lt Col Gano conducted a detailed research and wrote a thesis on "a Critical Analysis on the Political Violence, Drug Trafficking and Military Coups in Guinea-Bissau".

In a letter to His Excellency the president and commander-in-chief, the Chief of Defence Staff of the Gambia Armed Forces Lieutenant General Masanneh Kinteh expressed gratitude on behalf of the entire Gambia Armed Forces for the academic boost. The chief of Defence Staff further noted that the qualification registered by the officer is a milestone in the drive by his Excellency to enhance the human resource development of the Gambia Armed Forces.  Such ventures go a long way in preparing and consolidating the intellectual capacities of the Gambia Armed Forces. Lt Col Gano is the Military Assistant to the Chief of Defence Staff as well as the Procurement Officer of the Armed Forces.