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| Gambian refugees in a wooden canoe approach a beach in the Senegalese village of Niafarang Tuesday. | REUTERS |
DAKAR/LAGOS – Gambia headed late Wednesday toward a midnight showdown between a president who refuses to leave office and a president-elect who insists he will take power, while a regional force moved toward the country’s borders in an attempt to intervene.
Hours before the end of President Yahya Jammeh’s mandate, legislators voted to extend his term by three months.
But an adviser to President-elect Adama Barrow, Mai Ahmad Fatty, warned in a Facebook post that “those who resist peaceful change effective 12 midnight tonight shall face definite consequences, to their peril. Anyone with firearms tonight shall be deemed a rebel, and will certainly become a legitimate target.”
Supporters of Barrow insisted that he would be sworn in Thursday on Gambian soil. Barrow has been in neighboring Senegal for his safety, and it was unclear whether he might take the oath at a Gambian Embassy outside the country or if he would return.
A military commander with the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS announced that Jammeh had only hours to leave. “We are waiting so that all political means have been exhausted. The mandate of the president is finished at midnight,” Seydou Maiga Mboro said on Senegalese radio station RFM, adding that “all the troops are already in place.”
The regional force was seeking the U.N. Security Council’s endorsement of “all necessary measures” to help remove Jammeh from power, according to a Senegal-circulated draft resolution seen by The Associated Press. The resolution was not drafted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which can be enforced militarily.
Tourists were being evacuated from the tiny West African country. The capital, Banjul, was empty downtown, with all shops closed. A minimal security presence was on the streets.
“Our future starts tomorrow,” Barrow was quoted as saying in a tweet, adding that his supporters made history when they elected him in December.
Barrow has the backing of the international community. “The U.N. supports regional efforts aimed at resolving the crisis,” the deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Farhan Haq, said Wednesday, noting the end of Jammeh’s term.
In another sign of the mounting international pressure, Nigeria confirmed a warship was heading toward Gambia for “training” as regional countries prepared to intervene, if necessary. Diplomatic efforts by ECOWAS have failed to persuade Jammeh to step down.
Gambia, a country of 1.9 million people, is estimated to have just 900 troops.
As the crisis deepened, more than 1,000 mainly British and Dutch tourists began leaving Gambia on specially chartered flights. Hundreds streamed into the airport, seeking information on departures.
On Tuesday, Jammeh declared a three-month state of emergency as he seeks to stay in power. He has challenged the election results, citing voting irregularities.
Thousands of residents have been fleeing to Senegal, including a number of Jammeh’s former government ministers, who resigned this week.
However, many tourists continued to enjoy lying on the beach. While Jammeh’s government has been accused by human rights groups of arbitrary detentions and torture of opponents during his 22-year rule, the government has promoted Gambia as “the smiling coast of Africa.”
Travel group Thomas Cook said it planned to bring home nearly 1,000 vacationers. The evacuation was not mandatory.
In the Netherlands, travel companies Corendon and Tui said they were sending planes to Gambia to bring home tourists.
Gambia’s new state of emergency bans people from “any acts of disobedience” or violence, and it tells security forces to maintain order.
Nigeria has sent 200 soldiers and air assets including fighter jets to Senegal as part of a regional force to enforce the result of Gambia’s contested election, the country’s air force said Wednesday.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said it had “today moved a contingent of 200 men and air assets comprising fighter jets, transport aircraft, light utility helicopter as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Dakar from where it is expected to operate into Gambia.”
The Economic Community Of West African States has repeatedly called on Jammeh to respect the result of the Dec. 1 election and step down after 22 years in power.
Jammeh on Tuesday declared a state of emergency as President-elect Barrow, who is currently in Senegal, maintained his inauguration will go ahead as planned on Thursday on Gambian soil.
Nigeria said the forces were part of an ECOWAS military standby intervention force “tasked by ECOWAS heads of state to enforce the December 1, 2016 election mandate in The Gambia.”
“The deployment is also to forestall hostilities or breakdown of law and order that may result from the current political impasse in The Gambia,” it added in a statement.
Source: AP, AFP-JIJI
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