Nigeria at the weekend hosted a meeting of West African military chiefs in preparation for a possible military action in The Gambia after Thursday.
The tenure of outgoing President Yahya Jammeh ends on Thursday when President-elect Adama Barrow is due to take office, but Jammeh has refused to quit power despite losing the December 1, 2016 election.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin, on Saturday hosted colleagues from other West African countries as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) steps up preparation for a possible military action in the Gambia.
Two missions to Banjul, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, failed to convince Jammeh to respect the election outcome.
A statement from Barrow’s office said Jammeh’s meeting with President Buhari and other ECOWAS representatives on Friday was “unproductive.”
The military chiefs’ meeting, held at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, as part of the move force Jammeh out should such a need arise.
But Gen. Olonisakin expressed the readiness of regional leaders and military commanders to continue the pursuit of dialogue with the political leaders of The Gambia to ensure peaceful transition of power.
A statement on the website of the Defence headquarters listed those who attended the meeting as Chairperson of ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff, Brig Gen. Daniel Ziankahn (Liberia); CH Gueye of Senegal; ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Hajiya Salamatu; Vice President of the Commission; the Ghanaian Chief of Defence Staff and principal staff officers from Defence, Army, Navy, and Air Force headquarters.
The United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) said ECOWAS had decided to take all necessary actions to enforce the results of the Dec. 1, 2016 presidential election .
Head of UNOWAS Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who is also the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-Genera, told the UN Security Council that “some countries in the region had witnessed political uncertainty or significant security challenges.
The AU’s Peace and Security Council said in a statement the organisation will no longer recognise Mr Jammeh as president once his term ends. It warned of “serious consequences in the event that his action causes any crisis that could lead to political disorder [and] humanitarian and human rights disaster”.
Senegal will host Gambian president-elect Adama Barrow until his swearing-in ceremony, the state-owned Senegalese news agency APS reported Sunday.
Barrow arrived in Dakar shortly after midnight on Sunday, an unnamed official source said.
The agency said Senegalese President Macky Sall had accepted to host Barrow at the request of ECOWAS at a Franco-African summit in the Malian capital Bamako on Saturday.
ECOWAS had set Thursday as deadline to try to resolve the Gambian crisis, Radio France Internationale earlier quoted Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe as saying.
ECOWAS wants the UN to approve military action if Mr Barrow’s inauguration is blocked
Mali’s President Ibrahim Keita called for “proverbial African wisdom” to prevail to avert a bloodbath and there are growing fears that the uncertainty could cause a refugee exodus.
Thousands of Gambians, mostly women and children, have already crossed the border into neighbouring Senegal and further afield to Guinea-Bissau, where they do not require a visa.
Barrow was referred to as the president at the weekend’s Bamako summit
Jammeh’s refusal to concede defeat has sparked fears of violence in the West African country.
Barrow attended the Franco-African summit, while Jammeh was absent, following talks between ECOWAS mediators and both leaders in Gambia on Friday.
