Gambian students denied visas for robotics contest in DC

Five young inventors from Gambia are the latest students to be denied visas to enter the US for a prestigious international robotics contest in Washington. The teens found the rejection'very disheartening,' their coach, Mucktarr Darboe, said on Tuesday. Darboe, who is also a director in the largely Muslim West African nation's ministry of higher education, said the students were not given a reason for the visa denials in April, and he called the decision'disappointing and unfair.' The US Embassy in Banjul, Gambia's capital, could not immediately be reached for comment. Mucktarr Darboe is pictured with members of Gambia's student team that was denied visas to travel to Washington for a robotics contest Gambia has been through dramatic change in recent months, ousting via elections a longtime dictator, Yahya Jammeh, whose administration was accused of human rights abuses.