Thousands flee crisis in Gambia
Refugees run gauntlet in to Senegal as Jammeh stays put
MORE than 45 000 people have fled the political crisis in The Gambia this month as troops massed on its borders, ready to remove its autocratic ruler from power.
The United Nations said yesterday, as veteran leader Yahya Jammeh faced a midday deadline to leave office, that the refugees were reported to have arrived in Senegal.
Senegalese and West African troops entered the country on Thursday, but did not advance towards the capital of Banjul to give Jammeh more time to stand down.
Troops including “land, air and sea” forces crossed into The Gambia, a Senegalese army officer said, indicating that Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Mali were also involved.
A Senegalese army spokesman confirmed his country’s troops had crossed the border, after Nigerian jets earlier flew over Gambia
“It is feared that more people may continue to flee as the situation remains tense,” the UN High Commission for Refugees said. It added that another 800 people had crossed into Guinea-Bissau.
The UN agency noted that arrivals in Senegal had included Gambians, Senegalese, bi-nationals, as well as Ghanaians, Liberians, Lebanese, Guineans, and Mauritanians, among other foreigners.
Jammeh, who has been in power more than 20 years, lost elections last month to Adama Barrow but has refused to stand down.
Soldiers from Senegal and four other west African countries crossed into Gambia to bolster Barrow after he had been sworn in as president at the country’s embassy in Dakar.
West African leaders had said regional forces would intervene with force if Jammeh refused to stand down by midday yesterday.
Jammeh rejected Barrow’s election win, despite significant pressure from regional powers and the UN, sparking a major crisis and sending tourists – vital for the tiny country’s economy – fleeing.
The military operation was suspended to allow a final diplomatic push to convince Jammeh, who has ruled the former British colony since seizing power in a 1994 coup, to leave the country.
“We have suspended operations and given him an ultimatum,” head of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States, Marcel Alain de Souza, said.
Final talks were being led by Guinean President Alpha Conde inl Banjul yesterday morning, he said.
A diplomat in Banjul said: “It’s last chance saloon for Jammeh.” — AFP