Mr Toby Lanzer, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, has said that the humanitarian crisis in the The Gambia would have worsened if former President
Yahya Jammeh did not ceded power to President Adama Barrow, Lanzer told UN correspondents on Monday that the preventive diplomacy employed by ECOWAS, AU and the UN was commendable.
“As the person who is largely responsible for the humanitarian response across the Sahel, I want to thank ECOWAS, AU and UN for the preventive diplomacy which took place in The Gambia.
“As a humanitarian, I say that because in a space of one week, we had 45,000 people who fled from The Gambia into Senegal and additional 7,000 people who fled from The Gambia into Guinea Bissau.
“Not a very large number but in proportion to the population of The Gambia, it was an enormous movement of the people.
“They are now well on their way back to The Gambia and there was a sense of relief among the aid community that we didn’t have yet another crisis in which we need to engage.
“I think this preventive diplomacy by ECOWAS, AU and the UN really worked,” Lanzer said.
Spokesperson to the Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, said the regional efforts by the political leaders helped in a great deal to avoid bloodshed in the country.
“I think the preventive diplomacy was the fact that there was an avoidance of bloodshed, that there was a restoration of democracy, that the region as a whole – ECOWAS – was unified and I think that was critical.
“We saw the numerous political missions from various presidents that went to Banjul to talk to the former president to convince him to leave.
“The Secretary-General himself also had a number of conversations with regional leaders.
“I think this is a case of violence and humanitarian disaster was prevented and averted; we saw the tip of it with thousands of Gambians who decided to preventively leave The Gambia.
“But we all know that if that diplomacy had not worked, we would have seen a far worse situation,” Dujarric said.
Jammeh, who lost a Dec. 1, 2016 presidential election to Barrow, reneged on his earlier announcement that he conceded defeat and promise to handover to Barrow.
His stance, which later led to a political crisis in the country, led to the intervention of ECOWAS, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, which mediated a peaceful handover to Barrow.
However, following Jammeh’s refusal to accede to all entreaties for political solution to the crisis, the UN granted ECOWAS request authoring the sub-regional group to take “all necessary actions” to install Barrow.
Jammeh finally relinquished power and left Banjul for exile in Malabo after a face-saving deal allegedly brokered to protect him from prosecution. (NAN)
APT/OFN
