Gambian president-elect not able to attend young son’s funeral

GAMBIAN president-elect Adama Barrow was unable to attend the funeral of his eight-year-old son Habibu Barrow.

The boy died on the way to hospital on Sunday after being bitten by a dog near the capital, Banjul.

Fearing for his safety, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) advised Barrow to remain in Senegal.

He had fled to that country after incumbent president Yahiya Jammeh – whose term ends tomorrow – refused to step down after losing last month’s presidential elections to Barrow, the BBC reported.

Ecowas is considering military intervention to force Jammeh out of office after he filed an injunction aimed at preventing the president-elect’s inauguration tomorrow.

He said on state television on Sunday that “the so-called deadline of January 19, 2017 was not cast in stone and all parties shall await the outcome of the Supreme Court”.

Jammeh, who came to power in 1994 during a military coup, also tried earlier this month to challenge the legitimacy of Barrow’s win, after Gambia’s Independent Electoral Commission declared Barrow the winner after he took approximately 45 percent of the vote. However, it could take the Supreme Court months to rule on Jammeh’s petition to prevent the swearing-in ceremony because the court is barely functioning.

Meanwhile, like Barrow hundreds of terrified Gambians have fled the country.

As tomorrow’s deadline inches closer, tension continues to escalate with the Ecowas military force on standby, a possible split in Gambian military allegiance, and the international community, all pressuring Jammeh to step down despite signs to the contrary of him having any intention to surrender power.