“My dearest Gambians the presidency of Yahya Jammeh is officially over. The new era of Gambia is here at last,” said President elect Adama Barrow in a twitter posting shortly past midnight after the expiration of Jammeh’s presidential term mandate.
Mr. Barrow, will be sworn in today as Gambia’s third president since independence from Great Britain. He has backing of the West African bloc ECOWAS, the AU, EU, and the United Nations.
Meanwhile, African troops are moving towards The Gambia to help oversee the inauguration of president elect Barrow. Senegal, is leading the military operation. A Senegalese Colonel, who goes with the last name Ndiaye was quoted as saying that: “ We are ready and are awaiting the deadline at midnight. If no political solution is found, we will step in.”
The Gambian military will likely not put up any resistance to the foreign troops, said a source close to the corridor of power. The majority of the personnel of the army believe that Barrow is the legitimate president elect, and they would not shed blood and tears for Jammeh, our source added.
Banjul is calm as we file this report. It is a virtual ghost city. There are military checkpoints mounted around the city centre.
Thousands of Gambians have fled to neighboring Senegal, in search of safety. Western tourists have also been evacuated from the country, ahead of the possible military showdown in Banjul on Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment