Gambian leader Yahaya Jammeh is receptive to the advice by West African leaders that he should respect the election result and hand over power, President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday.
He spoke after a meeting of four Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders with Jammeh in The Gambian capital Banjul.
The leaders were there to press Jammeh to hand over power to President-elect Adama Barrow.
Other members of the delegation were Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma and Ghana’s President John Mahama.
Asked if Jammeh had been receptive to a message from the delegation, Buhari told reporters shortly after the meeting: “Yes, very much so.”
But Gambian soldiers yesterday took over the offices of the electoral commission.
Jammeh cited irregularities in the official results, but his abrupt about-face drew international criticism, and a delegation of West African presidents arrived early yesterday on a mission to resolve the crisis.
A photo provided by Gambia’s Information Ministry and taken before the meeting showed the five heads of state seated in Jammeh’s elaborately decorated office at State House wearing leaden expressions, with the exception of Jammeh who had a faint smile. A military officer looked on.
But just hours before their arrival, Gambian security forces seized control of the Independent Electoral Commission headquarters, which holds the original poll records, according to its chairman.
“The military came to my office and said I am not to touch anything and told me to leave,” Alieu Momarr Njai said. “I am worried for my safety.”
The African presidents’ delegation was also due to meet Barrow, who has said he would annul Jammeh’s declaration of Gambia as an Islamic Republic among other reforms, as well as Gambian security chiefs later on Tuesday.
Diplomats say that if Jammeh seeks to cling to power after negotiations fail, neighbours might consider options for removing him by force. Marcel de Souza, president of the ECOWAS commission, told Radio France International on Monday that sending troops was “a conceivable solution”.
Gambia’s president officially has 60 days to hand over power. Jammeh’s party intends to challenge the results at the Supreme Court.
“That would put the international community in a strange position and reduce available options,” a diplomat said.
Rights groups said Jammeh exerts strong influence over the court, which has not held a session for a year and a half. Legal experts believe that at least four new judges would need to be hired to hear his petition. Tuesday was believed to be the final deadline for lodging a challenge to the election result.
Senegal, which surrounds the riverside country of 1.8 million people, called yesterday’s presidential trip a “last chance mission”.
However, the African Union said in a statement yesterday that it also planned to send a high-level delegation led by Chadian President Idriss Deby.
The role of Gambia’s army is seen as critical, with the United States saying that some military officers had sided with Jammeh.
Army chief General Ousman Badjie had previously called Barrow to pledge his allegiance, the latter’s spokeswoman said. But Barrow’s position appeared far less certain on Tuesday.
“I support the commander in chief, whoever it may be. I support the commander in chief Jammeh,” Badjie told Reuters.
Barrow said he had no official state security detail and felt “exposed”.
International human rights groups have accused Jammeh, a former army lieutenant, of widespread violations and repression.
He won four previous elections that were criticised by rights monitors, and has survived several coup attempts, the latest in December 2014.
In October, he announced its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. He also withdrew the former British colony from the Commonwealth in 2013, saying it was a neo-colonial institution.
Tag: Jammeh
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Jammeh receptive to quit advice, says Buhari
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Buhari, Mahama, others for Gambia to tell Jammeh: go
President-elect to welcome delegationPresident-elect to welcome delegation
President Muhammadu Buhari is visiting The Gambia today.
But this is no ceremonial trip. Buhari along with three other West African leaders will be in Banjul, the capital, to tell President Yahya Jammeh to “leave office” following his defeat in the December 1 general election.
A source told The Nation last night that an advance team had left Abuja for Banjul.
With Buhari on the trip are Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) chair and Liberian leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Sierra Leone leader Ernest Bai Koroma and outgoing Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama.
“These leaders will ask him to leave office,” a source said yesterday.
Senegalese Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye said an ECOWAS delegation was due in Banjul last week but Jammeh did not allow them to visit.
In a U-turn at the weekend, the temperamental Jammeh, who has ruled The Gambia with an iron fist for 22 years, rejected his stunning electoral defeat to opposition candidate Adama Barrow.
Barrow is due to welcome the ECOWAS delegation, which will also include United Nations (UN) representatives, which the president-elect said gave him hope that he would soon take power.
Mrs Sirleaf said at the weekend that the reversal of Jammeh’s decision “threatened peace”.
She asked him to “do the right thing and take actions to facilitate a smooth and peaceful transition in The Gambia.”
Barrow is quoted by French news agency (AFP) as saying: It’s giving us confidence and it will give confidence to every Gambian that the world is concerned about Gambia.”
Barrow rejected Jammeh’s decision to challenge the result in the Supreme Court, saying:
“We don’t have time to fight again. The Supreme Court wasn’t existing in the last one year. There are a pile of cases that are waiting… but he doesn’t care about it.
“I think he should step down now. He has lost the election, we don’t want to waste time, we want this country to start moving.”
The coalition led by Barrow also called on Jammeh to step down immediately and hand over power.
The coalition said in the statement that the president had no constitutional authority in his final days in office to name new Supreme Court judges to hear his petition.
The visiting leader will also meet with Barrow, it was learnt.
According to the electoral commission Barrow won 222,708 votes (43.3%) to Jammeh’s 208,487 (39.6%). A third-party candidate, Mama Kandeh, won 89,768 (17.1%).
Mrs Sirleaf said The Gambia could be plunged into violence by the president’s decision to reject election results in which he was defeated.
ECOWAS head Marcel Alain de Souza said President Yahya Jammeh must respect The Gambian people’s choice, describing his U-turn as shameful.
Jammeh, who conceded victory to property developer Barrow immediately after the election, changed his mind on Saturday. He alleged that the poll was marred by irregularities and demanded a new vote organised by a “God-fearing” electoral commission.
The Islamic Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa mostly surrounded by Senegal with a short strip of its coastline bordered on the Atlantic Ocean at its western end. It is the smallest country in mainland Africa.
The Gambia is situated on either side of the Gambia River, the nation’s namesake, which flows through the centre of the Gambia and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its area is 10,689 square kilometres (4,127 sq mi) with a population of 1,882,450 at the 15 April 2013 census (provisional). Banjul is the Gambian capital, and the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.
The Gambia shares historical roots with many other West African nations in the slave trade, which was the key factor in the placing and keeping of a colony on the Gambia River, first by the Portuguese, during which era it was known as A Gâmbia.
On 18 February 1965, The Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom. Since then, the Gambia has had two leaders: Dawda Jawara, who ruled from 1970 until 1994, and Jammeh, who seized power in a coup that year as a young army officer.
The Gambia’s economy is dominated by farming, fishing, and especially tourism. About a third of the population lives below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. -
Gambian president Jammeh in U-turn, rejects election results
Ghanaian President Mahama blames
defeat on praise-singers, corruption•Accept verdict of the Gambian people, Borrow tells Jammeh
There is tension in Gambia yesterday as President Yahya Jammeh, who accepted defeat in the country’s presidential election about a week ago, turned round to annul the results on Friday. He also called for “fresh and transparent elections which will be officiated by a god-fearing and independent electoral commission.”
Reacting, the president-elect has urged Jammeh to accept the verdict of the Gambian people.
When Jammeh, who had severally been described by critics as an autocratic ruler, accepted the result of the election, ceding power after 22 years, to a coalition led by the opposition leader, Adama Barrow, there was celebration in the West African country even as observers praised him for showing ‘unexpected’ maturity.
But the celebration was cut short yesterday as Jammeh recanted his earlier acceptance of the results of the polls in a television broadcast. “After a thorough investigation, I have decided to reject the outcome of the recent election. I lament serious and unacceptable abnormalities which have reportedly transpired during the electoral process,” he said.
Following the resultant tension, there were reports yesterday that troops have been deployed to the streets of Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, to quell any likely protest or resistance. It was reported that “soldiers were seen placing sandbags in strategic locations across the capital, Banjul, a development that triggered widespread unease among the already spooked population, who had been panic-buying food before the vote due to fear of unrest.”
Already, observers and human rights activists have condemned Jammeh’s change of heart.
One of the reports quoted Babatunde Olugboji, Deputy Programme Director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, as saying the organisation was “deeply concerned by reports of belated objections to the Gambian election results raised by President Jammeh”.
He called on “the international community, notably the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union” to “loudly protest against any unlawful attempt to subvert the will of the Gambian people”.