President Jammeh of Gambia continues to dig into power, despite efforts by a team of West African Presidents to convince him to accept the result of an election in which he was defeated.
Yahya Jammeh initially accepted the result of the December 1 presidential election in which opposition Adama Barrow was declared winner. He however, later turned around to reject the results and called for fresh elections in a move that has been widely condemned across the world.
Jammeh, who has ruled the tiny West African country for 22 years, has met with the West African contingent at the Presidential palace. The team consists of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, Sierra Leone’s Ernest Bai Koroma and Ghana’s John Mahama. Sirleaf, who is a Nobel Peace laureate, is leading the delegate.
As the West African delegate departs Gambia, there is tension in the Nation as Jammeh has been given 60 days to hand over power.
However, the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction has filed a petition to overturn the election result.
A document quoted by Reuters says;
“The petition prays that it be determined that the said Adama Barrow was not duly elected or returned as president and that the said election was void.”
There is little trust in the Gambian Judiciary as the judges are said to be in favour of Jammeh. The Supreme Court is headed by a Nigerian, and he is said to be loyal to the incumbent president.
“It is not time for a deal. It is not something that can happen in one day. It is something that we have to work on,” Johnson Sirleaf said as the presidents prepared to leave Gambia.
Regional leaders will discuss the crisis at an ECOWAS summit in Nigeria on Saturday, she said, adding Jammeh had given her assurances that peace and stability would be preserved.
But in an apparent sign that Jammeh was further entrenching his position, security forces seized control of the Independent Electoral Commission headquarters, which holds the original poll records.
“The military came to my office and said I am not to touch anything and told me to leave,” said commission chairman Alieu Momarr Njai. “I am worried for my safety.”
Many people are worried that the situation will degenerate into military conflict.
“I think everyone knows the issue here. There is a standoff between the government and our side,” Barrow said after meeting the regional heads of state.
If negotiations fail, diplomats say, Gambia’s neighbors might consider removing him by force. Marcel de Souza, head of the ECOWAS commission, told Radio France International on Monday that sending troops was “a conceivable solution”.
