The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Gambian crisis

  • Jammeh incommunicado – Ban Ki-Moon

    Embattled President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia has been unreachable by phone, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has revealed.

    “Despite efforts to reach President Yahya Jammeh by phone, the Secretary-General has not yet been able to speak with him,” Stephane Dujarric, Ban Ki-Moon’s spokesman, said in a statement in New York.

    The UN chief has however spoken with Adama Barrow, the President-elect to congratulate him on his electoral victory and to reiterate the commitment of the UN to a peaceful, timely, and orderly transfer of power.

    In a readout of the phone call to Barrow, Ban Ki- Moon said the UN welcomed and fully supported the December 17 decision of ECOWAS to support the safety of the president-elect.

    Ban advised the president-elect to urge his supporters to show restraint and not resort to violence.

    The secretary-general emphasized that the UN would support the will of the people in their election of Barrow as well as the future government in efforts to promote democracy and sustainable development of the country.

    The UN Security Council and the African Union have also expressed such support and have acknowledged Barrow as the president-elect after he defeated the incumbent, Jammeh, in the December 1 presidential election.

  • Gambian president Jammeh will not ‘step down’

    Gambian President Yahya Jammeh said he would not step down and condemned mediation by West African regional bloc ECOWAS that aims to get him to leave power after he lost a December 1 election to challenger Adama Barrow.

    The comments on state television late on Tuesday were a hardening of the veteran president’s position after days in which hopes mounted he could be persuaded to hand over power at the end of his mandate on January 18, when Barrow is due to be inaugurated.

    “I am not a coward. My right cannot be intimidated and violated. This is my position. Nobody can deprive me of that victory except the Almighty Allah,” Reuters quoted Jammeh as saying on the state television.

    “Already the ECOWAS meeting was a formality. Before they came, they had already said Jammeh must step down. I will not step down.”

    Jammeh initially accepted the results of an election whose outcome was seen across Africa as a moment of hope. He is accused by human rights groups of the detention, torture and killing of perceived opponents during his 22-year rule.

    On December 9, he reversed his position and said he would challenge in the country’s Supreme Court the results of an election he said was riddled with irregularities.

     

     

     

  • AU backs ECOWAS’ decision on Gambia

    The Chairman of the African Union (AU), Mr. Idriss Deby, on Monday expressed full support for the decisions adopted by the ECOWAS Heads of State on the political situation in The Gambia.

    In a statement issued in Addis Ababa, Deby commended the ECOWAS Heads of State for their “principled stand with regards to the situation in The Gambia.

    He said the AU was in full support of the decisions reached at the meeting held in Abuja on December 16, including “the consideration to use all necessary means to ensure the respect of the will of the people of The Gambia.’’

    “The Chairman of AU reaffirms its readiness to pursue and intensify coordination efforts with ECOWAS and the United Nations,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the statement as saying on Monday.

    “This is in order to facilitate the speedy and orderly transfer of power to the President-elect, including its full support to President Muhammadu Buhari, in his capacity as ECOWAS Mediator in The Gambia.’’

    Deby, who is the President of Chad, repeated his call on The Gambia’s outgoing President Yahya Jammeh to facilitate the smooth transfer of power to the newly elected president, Adama Barrow, as decided by The Gambians.

    He also called on members of the security forces in The Gambia to strictly abide by the country’s Constitution and the rule of law.

     

  • Buhari’s experience needed in Gambian crisis’

    Buhari’s experience needed in Gambian crisis’

    The coalition of seven political parties that produced The Gambia President-elect, Adama Barrow, is looking up to  President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy his vast experience, alongside other African leaders, to resolve the political logjam in the West African country.

    According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, one of the coalition members, Hamad Bah, spoke with the media during the high-level ECOWAS /AU/UN Joint Mission to The Gambia on Tuesday.

    He said: “We need the experience of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in many ways. Like President Jammeh, he is a former military officer, so he knows how the military thinks, and would be able to talk to him appropriately.

    “Again, President Buhari was in the opposition in Nigeria for about 12 years, before he won election in 2015. So, he also knows how the opposition thinks. He can feel what we feel. We are quite glad that President Buhari is here, it gives us a lot of hope.”

    The high-level team, in series of meetings that lasted the whole of Tuesday, met with President Jammeh, twice, conferred with Barrow, consulted with security chiefs, members of the diplomatic community, leadership of the electoral commission, and many other interest groups.

     

    The consensus was that President Jammeh needed to respect the result of the December 1 election, which he had earlier accepted, congratulated the winner, only to recant a week later, calling for fresh polls “to be conducted by a God-fearing electoral commission.”

    The Joint ECOWAS-AU-UN team, made of President Buhari, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia (current Chairperson of ECOWAS), President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, outgoing President John Mahama of Ghana, and Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, (UN Special Representative for West Africa), encouraged Jammeh to reconsider his rejection of the election results, citing “tallying errors” and his call for new elections.

    Jammeh was also urged to hand over power “within constitutional deadlines and in accordance with electoral laws of The Gambia.”

    President Johnson-Sirleaf said discussions on The Gambian impasse would continue, as ECOWAS leaders meet in Abuja this Saturda

  • Gambia’s ruling party challenges election result

    Gambia’s ruling party has filed a petition to challenge the result of the presidential election which saw Yahya Jammeh lose power after 22- year rule.

    The result of the December 1 polls should be annulled, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), said in a document handed to the registrar of the Supreme Court in the capital, Banjul.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the petition was filed after an African Union (AU) delegation met with Jammeh, hoping to persuade him to hand over power to President-elect Adama Barrow.

    Earlier on Tuesday, security forces blocked the entrance to the electoral commission in Banjul, while the Chief of Defence Staff vowed to remain loyal to Jammeh, indicating that the country’s military would help him stay in power.

    Jammeh last week announced his intention to challenge the election results, even though he had earlier conceded defeat to Barrow.

    The 51-year-old, who has ruled the West African country for 22 years, deployed heavily armed military and police to the streets of the capital.

  • Buhari, ECOWAS leaders to meet Jammeh on Gambian crisis

    Buhari, ECOWAS leaders to meet Jammeh on Gambian crisis

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday morning arrived Banjul, The Gambia, to meet with the country’s President, Yahya Jammeh, who lost the presidential election penultimate week.

    A statement issued on Tuesday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, said Buhari had arrived together with the Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is the current Chairperson of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, and President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra-Leone.

    They were received at the airport by Gambia’s Vice-President,  Isatou Njie-Saidy.

    The outgoing President of Ghana, John Mahama, who had earlier arrived Banjul, will join the other West African leaders to meet President Jammeh at the CoCo Ocean Resort and Spa, Banjul.

    President Jammeh had earlier conceded defeat in the election, after a 22-year rule, but recanted a week later, asking for fresh polls to be conducted by a “God-fearing and independent electoral commission.”

    President Buhari and the ECOWAS leaders will discuss the ensuing impasse in The Gambia with President Jammeh, and insist on the sanctity of the electoral process, and respect for the wishes of the people.

    They wIll also ask their host to respect the Constitution of his country and maintain the inviolability of an electoral process that had been concluded, and in which he had admitted defeat and congratulated his main challenger.

    The leaders are also scheduled to meet the President-elect, Adama Barrow.

    President Buhari is expected back in Abuja later on Tuesday.