The Borneo Post

Exiled Jammeh ‘plundered’ Gambia coffer

Cheers from relieved residents greet arriving military force and allowing Barrow to return and take power

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BANJUL, Gambia: Gambia’s exiled strongman Yahya Jammeh plundered millions of dollars in his final weeks in power leaving state coffers ‘empty’, an aide to new President Adama Barrow said as West African troops prepared to secure his arrival.

Jammeh flew out of The Gambia on Saturday, ending 22 years at the helm of the small west African nation, and headed for Equatorial Guinea where he is expected to settle with his family.

A West African military force entered The Gambia Sunday — greeted by cheers from relieved residents — to provide security and allow Barrow, who has been in neighbouri­ng Senegal for more than a week, to return and take power.

But amid growing controvers­y over the assurances offered to Jammeh to guarantee his departure, Barrow aide Mai Fatty said the new administra­tion had discovered that some US$ 11 million had recently been stolen.

“The coffers are largely empty,” he told reporters in the Sengalese capital Dakar.

“Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi ( US$ 11 million) were withdrawn” by Jammeh, he said. “As we take over, the government of The Gambia is in financial distress.”

Following Barrow’s win in the December 1 election, Jammeh refused to step down, triggering weeks of uncertaint­y that almost ended in a full military interventi­on.

Jammeh slunk off in the early hours of Sunday on an unmarked plane. Barrow is eager to return “as soon as possible”, Mai Fatty said, warning however, that “the state of security in The Gambia is still fragile.”

On Sunday, “additional forces crossed into The Gambia to beef up the numbers already on the ground,” Barrow said, according to a statement read out by Mai Fatty.

The new administra­tion wants the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS) forces to stay on. “We want their mandate to be extended,” Mai Fatty said, adding that Barrow was waiting for assurances of loyalty from the security forces,

Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi (US$11 million) were withdrawn. Mai Fatty, Adama Barrow aide

including the police and the army.

Jammeh personally controlled certain sections of the security forces, and his long tenure was marked by systematic rights abuses, including extrajudic­ial killings, torture, and arbitrary detention.

The Senegalese general leading a joint force of troops from five African nations said soldiers would “control strategic points to ensure the safety of the population and facilitate... Barrow’s assumption of his role”.

Marcel Alain de Souza, a top ECOWAS official, said the country “could not be left open” for long, and that Barrow must be in place “as soon as possible”. A senior Senegalese military source told AFP that his forces had met little resistance on Sunday, as army chief Ousman Badjie has already declared his loyalty to Barrow.

Critics have raised concerns over the wording of a statement issued by the UN, ECOWAS and the African Union that seemed to offer Jammeh comfortabl­e guarantees for his future.

“No legislativ­e measures” would be taken that would infringe the “dignity, security, safety and rights” of Jammeh or his family, it said, noting that property “lawfully” belonging to him would not be seized.

However, experts told AFP the document was not legally binding. —

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 ??  ?? Returnees from Barra seen on arrival at Banjul Port, a day after Jammeh departed Banjul, Gambia for exile. — Reuters photo
Returnees from Barra seen on arrival at Banjul Port, a day after Jammeh departed Banjul, Gambia for exile. — Reuters photo
 ??  ?? Members of the regional ECOWAS force are seen at the Denton Bridge check point in Banjul, Gambia. — Reuters photo
Members of the regional ECOWAS force are seen at the Denton Bridge check point in Banjul, Gambia. — Reuters photo
 ??  ?? Yahya Jammeh
Yahya Jammeh

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