Gambian human rights activists said Thursday that they hope that a surge in interest around a crackdown on LGBT rights in the small West African country will finally spur action from the U.S. government they say has long turned a blind eye to dozens of human rights abuses during President Yahya Jammeh's 20-year rule.

"In all these years of efforts to go to the state department, going to all these different levels in the U.S. government lobbying and lobbying for them to do something about the Gambia, we haven't been having any traction at all," said Banka Manneh of Civil Society Associations Gambia, who was one of three activists who participated in a Thursday roundtable organized by the RFK Center for Human Rights in Washington, D.C. He held up a 10-page list of names of individuals executed, disappeared, or forced into exile under Jammeh's regime as he spoke. "All of sudden they arrest these 15 gays and lesbians, and we're seeing really what seems to be a firestorm."

Since early November, at least 15 people alleged to be LGBT have been arrested by Gambian authorities, according to the activists, and at least eight more have fled the country. Jammeh has made several remarks encouraging violence toward LGBT people, and the activists fear those arrested may be tortured or executed, given his past behavior.

The anti-LGBT campaign — which was foreshadowed with the passage of an "aggravated homosexuality" law closely modeled on Uganda's infamous "Anti-Homosexuality Act" in August — has caused a surge in international coverage for the country that is home to around 2 million people. Even the conference organizer, the RFK Center's Jeffrey Smith, expressed surprise that the conference room was filled, because activists have long been unsuccessful in generating interest in Washington about the abuses of one of Africa's most unpredictable dictators.

Fatou Camara, who briefly served as Jammeh's press secretary and now is an opposition activist living in the United States, said it was "long overdue to bring the attention of the world to the plight of Gambians living under the brutal dictatorship of Jammeh" who has been "killing of people with reckless abandon" for two decades.

Camara, who suffered a concussion when assaulted by Jammeh's security detail during a protest against his visit to Washington for an African leaders summit organized by the White House in August, criticized the Obama administration for sending mixed signals about its position on Jammeh's human rights record.

The activists said the European Union has imposed some sanctions in response to human rights concerns, but the U.S. government has not taken any public actions even following the disappearance of two American citizens believed to have been abducted by Jammeh's security forces in 2013, or when 14 students were gunned down for protesting the rape of a classmate by security police in a notorious 2000 incident. The activists called for the U.S. to take steps including banning visas and freezing assets of people close to Jammeh.

"What we are hoping is that this could be a catalyst. Maybe this could be a wake up call," Manneh said. "Maybe [U.S. officials have] been asleep all this time. ... If this serves that purpose, that would be awesome because then it benefits the LGBT community and the regular Gambians."

Following a request for comment from BuzzFeed News, White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan issued a statement that said, "We remain concerned about ongoing reports of forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests, including of journalists, human rights advocates, and civil servants, as well as continued calls by senior officials for the persecution of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. We remain deeply disappointed in the Gambian government's failure to investigate the disappearance of two U.S. citizens missing since June 2013."

Meehan did not comment on whether asset freezes and travel bans might be imposed on Gambian officials as were imposed on Ugandan officials following passage of its anti-LGBT legislation, but said, "Protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy, and we will be guided by these values as we respond to these negative developments in The Gambia."

But mounting a campaign against Jammeh based on his attack on LGBT rights carries risks for human rights activists, the Gambians said. "Being gay in the Gambia ... is not popular," Manneh said. The activists contend that Jammeh "manufactured" a confrontation with the international community over LGBT rights in part to win popular support for his brutal regime at home.

"Jammeh is couching the entire debate [with the international community] on the issue of ... gay rights, that Western countries want to impose that," said Amadou Scattred Janneh, a former Gambian Minister of Information who was sentenced to life in prison for treason after distributing T-shirts with the slogan "End Dictatorship Now." "We have to play a balancing act ... making sure that we don't lose focus on the overall human rights situation in the country."