Africa, Featured
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After holding power for more than 22 years, Yahaya Jammeh, embattled president of The Gambia, finally quits after long talks with two African presidents and a UN representative paving way Adama Barrow, who defeated him in the presidential poll to assume office on Friday, January 20
| By Olu Ojewale | Jan 30, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT |
TIME up. That has been the message to former President Yahaya Jammeh of the Gambia since he lost the presidential election of December 1, to now President Adama Barrow. But Jammeh was not the kind of person who would like to leave quietly. Even a day after his tenure in office expired, he refused to relinquished power thereby causing anxiety across the globe. This prompted the international community to order him to either hand over to Barrow or face military expulsion.
The former Gambian leader held firmly to power until late on Friday, January 20, in a peaceful diplomatic resolution brokered by presidents Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania and Alpha Conde of Guinea as well as Mohammed Ibn Chambas of the United Nations, UN. The leaders had arrived in the country through the Banjul airport amid tight security in the morning of Friday, January 20, for a last minute talk before a final action.
He had been given until 12 midday to vacate the office or face military action. Jammeh was reported to have pleaded for an extension of time from African leaders. Consequently, the deadline was reportedly pushed to 4:00 GMT.
The deadline passed without any word on the embattled Gambian leader. Rather, it was Isatou Njie-Saidy, Jammeh’s former vice-president, since 1997 and until Wednesday, January 18, who joined the negotiation team at State House.
Saikou Jammeh, a Gambian journalist, told the BBC that the long-time leader had his own ideas and was likely to make a public statement.
Initially, Jammeh had refused to see Chambas as the world called on him to leave office after his defeat in the December 2016 presidential election.
Marcel Alain de Souza, chairman, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, said that if the meeting with Conde proved unsuccessful, militarily action would follow. “If by midday, he [Mr Jammeh] doesn’t agree to leave The Gambia under the banner of President Conde, we really will intervene militarily,” de Souza said.
The ECOWAS forces had encountered no resistance after entering The Gambia on Thursday, January 19, when the initial deadline for Jammeh to stand down passed without any word from him. Troops from Senegal and other West African countries made up the contingent sent to the country. Nigeria has 200 Air Force troops in the operation. Nigeria’s fighter jets on Thursday, January 19, conducted “armed reconnaissance air force over Gambia.”
“They have the capacity to strike,” Ayodele Famuyiwa, Nigerian Air Force spokesman, told the AFP, French news agency.
Barrow, the new president who was supposed to take over from the embattled Jammeh, was sworn-in in Senegal, on Thursday, January 19, and will not return to Banjul, Gambia’s capital, until the military operation had ended.
The threat by the ECOWAS, West African regional bloc, to remove Jammeh by force is supported by the 15-member UN Security Council, although the council has stressed that a political solution should be the priority.
Abdou Ndiaye, a colonel and a Senegalese army spokesman, told the BBC that troops who were now in The Gambia were prepared to fight if necessary. “It is already war, if we find any resistance, we will fight it,” he said, adding: “If there are people who are fighting for the former president, we will fight them.”
But Ndiaye said the main goal of the ECOWAS troops under the ‘Operation Rescue Democracy’ was to restore democracy and to allow the newly-elected president to take power.
Up to 7,000 soldiers are on standby for an order to forcefully unseat Jammeh, who has sacked all his cabinet members and announced he was taken charge of all the ministries.
In any case, the United Nations has officially de-listed him by officially removing his portrait at its headquarters.
There were indications, however, that Jammeh planned to leave the country for Conakry, capital of Guinea, later in the day.
Prior to Jammeh agreeing to step down, the country was already being deserted by residents for fear of being held up amid a possible use of force. Soldiers from different African countries including Senegal announced their arrival with series of strikes on Thursday, January 19, were said to be battle ready.
Some of the soldiers were reported to have taken position at the Banjul airport where scores of residents were waiting to leave the country.
Fearing the worst, more than 45,000 people reportedly fled The Gambia only this month, the UN said on Friday, January 20. “Around 45,000 people are now reported to have arrived in Senegal from The Gambia,” the UN refugee agency said, adding that another “800 people have crossed into Guinea-Bissau.”
Those who stayed back in the country are short of ideas of what to do with their time.
On Thursday, a video of Ousman Badjie, chief of defence staff of the country, and some of the country’s soldiers joined in the jubilation as Barrow was sworn-in in neighbouring Senegal.
Sherrif Tambadou, president of the Gambian Bar Association, administered the oath of office on the new president. Barrow was relocated to Dakar by the ECOWAS Mediation Team led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Barrow, in his inaugural speech at the Gambian embassy in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, where he was sworn-in as president, ordered all members of The Gambia’s armed forces to remain in their barracks. He said anyone found illegally bearing arms would be considered “rebels.” Nicolas Haque, a Dakar-based journalist, told the BBC that he had spoken to internationally-recognised President Barrow who has told him that Jammeh should now leave the country. Last week, he had told the BBC that there was no need for Jammeh to go into exile and he would not be prosecuted by the incoming government over abuses he is accused of ordering during his 22-year rule.
Nevertheless, videos also emerged of citizens sweeping the streets in a symbolic way of clearing what remains of Jammeh and his 22–year rule of the country.
“I’m cleaning Mr. Jammeh to go out,” a man jubilantly sweeping in the street of Banjul was quoted as saying.
Cars also raced up and down the highway lined with iron-roofed shops in the pro-Barrow Serrekunda district of Banjul, with horns honking and people hanging out the windows.
“The dictator is out,” Lamine Jao, 30, a pharmacist, shouted as others cheered and whistled in agreement.
“It’s just a question of time. We’ll soon flush him out. Believe me.”
But on Friday, January 20, as the face-off dragged on, the streets of Banjul was eerily quiet. Most streets were deserted; shops, petrol stations and banks were closed. People were mostly staying indoors, uncertain about what might happen.
After first accepting defeat in the election, Jammeh, a week later, reversed his position, saying the election was tainted with irregularities and would not step down. He declared a 90-day state of emergency, which he caused the parliament to support.
The electoral commission had accepted that some of its early results had contained errors but said they would not have affected Barrow’s win.
Jammeh cashed on that to say he would stay in office until new elections were held.
Observers said that his determination to remain in power showed that Jammeh was afraid of his shadow and seeking protection against prosecution for alleged abuses committed during his rule. It is not clear whether he was guaranteed that he will not be prosecuted for those atrocities ahead of his departure from The Gambia.
— Jan 30, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT
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