The Gambia’s longtime leader Yahya Jammeh has asked for an extension of deadline for him to leave power from midday until 4pm, government sources have said, as the leaders of Guinea and Mauritania arrived in the capital, Banjul, in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to get him to cede power.
A regional military force that crossed the border in support of his democratically elected successor, Adama Barrow, was awaiting orders on Friday. Marcel Alain de Souza, chair of the west African union Ecowas, said troops would force Jammeh out if he refused to leave the country.
The west African troops entered the Gambia on Thursday night, hours after Barrow was forced to hold his inauguration as president in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. De Souza said the west African force, which includes tanks, has so far met no resistance.
Jammeh, who ruled the west African state for 22 years and tried to extend his tenure despite losing to Barrow, is still in State House [the president’s official residence] in the capital and is attempting to make a last-minute deal to ease his way out, according to sources close to the government. Earlier this week, he imposed a state of emergency in a final attempt to hang on to power.
Overnight he sacked what was left of his cabinet and said he would oversee all ministries himself.
(TheGuardian US)
