The Gambia: President- elect Barrow to be sworn in at Dakar

The Gambia: President- elect Barrow to be sworn in at Dakar

Thursday, January 19, 2017 10:25 am


Adama Barrow

Adama Barrow

The Gambia’s President-elect Adama Barrow has said he is to be sworn in as president in The Gambian embassy in the Senegalese capital Dakar at 16:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Thursday.

He made the announcement on twitter.

According to BBC, earlier reports had suggested he would be inaugurated at a location in The Gambia.

This followed failure of last minute attempt to convince Yahya Jammeh to give up his role as Gambian president before Wednesday’s midnight deadline.

Mauretanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz allegedly made a last-ditch effort late Wednesday night to persuade Jammeh to stand down after more than two decades in power, but was not able to convince him.

Troops from Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana remained in position in neighbouring Senegal as the deadline passed.

Meanwhile 26,000 Gambians crossed the border into Senegal between the start of the year and Monday, with many continuing to flee the impending conflict in recent days, according to UNHCR spokeswoman Helene Caux in Dakar.

Eyewitnesses reported heavily armed soldiers arriving at the Senegalese border town of Karang late Wednesday, while the Nigerian Air Force deployed fighter jets and troops to Senegal ahead of a likely military intervention in Gambia, where the post-election political crisis was escalating.

Regional bloc ECOWAS pledged to send troops to ensure a peaceful transition of power after it failed in repeated attempts to convince Jammeh to cede power.

After ruling Gambia for 22 years, Jammeh has refused to accept the result of a December 1 election, which saw him lose power to real estate mogul Adama Barrow.

Halifa Sallah, a spokesman for the president-elect, said if Jammeh refused to step down by midnight, Thursday’s inauguration would take place at the Gambian embassy in Dakar due to the military intervention in Gambia.

The Nigerian Air Force said in a statement its deployment was in keeping with the West African bloc’s pledge to enforce the election mandate.

Nigeria moved 200 troops, fighter jets, transport aircraft, helicopters and other air assets to the Senegalese capital Dakar, and planned to move them from there into Gambia.

“The deployment is also to forestall hostilities or breakdown of law and order that may result from the current political impasse in Gambia,” the statement read.


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