Gambia talks pursue power transfer
WEST African leaders are still pursuing mediation to ensure a peaceful transfer of power in Gambia where President Yahya Jammeh refused to accept defeat in an election last month.
Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said on Saturday after a meeting among regional leaders in Ghana’s capital Accra that regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) did not yet intend to deploy its standby military force in Gambia.
“We are committed to a peaceful mediation and a peaceful transfer of power in the Gambia ... we will continue to pursue that for now,” Sirleaf, who chairs the 15-member body, said.
She added that Ecowas was closely monitoring proceedings in Gambia’s Supreme Court, where Jammeh is challenging the poll result.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said Ecowas would hold a meeting in Abuja today to discuss further steps.
“There is some disturbing information the [Nigerian] president [Muhammadu Buhari] is hearing, which he needs to verify and the Abuja meeting will take a final decision,” he said, without elaborating.
Buhari has been appointed by Ecowas as mediator.
Jammeh, a former coup leader who has ruled Gambia for 22 years, initially accepted his defeat by opposition figure Adama Barrow in the December 1 election, but a week later reversed his position, vowing to hang onto power despite a wave of regional and international condemnation.
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the top UN official in West Africa, also attended the closed-door meeting, which was the first official engagement by Ghana’s new President Nana AkufoAddo, who was sworn in on Saturday.
Diplomats are concerned the impasse over the poll could escalate quickly into violence.
The US warned its citizens on Saturday against visiting Gambia, whose white beaches are a draw for tourists, and told those there to consider leaving. “The US Department of State warns US citizens against travel to The Gambia because of the potential for civil unrest and violence in the near future,” it said. — Reuters