Leaders question Jammeh deal

Ecowas forces cross into Gambia despite country’s leader flying into exile

WEST African leaders did not agree to immunity for Yahya Jammeh during negotiations that convinced Gambia’s long-time ruler to flee into exile, Senegal’s foreign minister said yesterday.

Jammeh, who is accused of serious rights violations, led his country for 22 years but refused to accept defeat in last month’s election.

He flew out of the capital Banjul late on Saturday under threat of a regional military force being poised to remove him.

Jammeh flew to Equatorial-Guinea with a brief stopover in Guinea’s capital Conakry, the office of Guinea President Alpha Conde said yesterday.

But, despite Jammeh going into exile, West African troops entered Gambia yesterday to secure President Adama Barrow’s arrival from neighbouring Senegal.

The Senegalese general leading a joint force of troops from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said soldiers had entered Gambia to control strategic points to ensure the safety of the population and facilitate Barrow’s assumption of his role as president.

Ecowas official Marcel Alain de Souza said pro-Jammeh elements and mercenaries remained on the ground and had open fire as troops crossed the border.

“They were neutralised,” he said, without elaborating.

It is hoped the end to the impasse will allow Barrow, who was sworn in as president at Gambia’s embassy in neighbouring Senegal on Thursday, to take office.

Jammeh’s decision to step down has prompted speculation over the terms agreed to during two days of negotiations led by Conde and Mauritania’s Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Regional leaders had not gone as far as agreeing immunity despite Jammeh’s attempts to to secure this, Senegalese Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye said.

“President Jammeh and his team concocted a declaration to be endorsed by Ecowas, the United Nations and the African Union that gave him every guarantee, essentially impunity,” Ndiaye said.

“This declaration was signed by no one.”

The foreign minister made his comments after the AU and the UN published a joint declaration with the purpose of reaching a peaceful resolution in Gambia.

In it, they pledged, among other things, to protect Jammeh’s rights as a citizen, party leader and former head of state, to prevent the seizure of property belonging to him and his allies, and to ensure he could eventually return to Gambia.

However, Ndiaye played down the significance of the document. “I want to be clear on the fact that no Ecowas head of state validated this declaration,” Ndiaye said.

Jammeh’s loss in a December 1 poll and his initial acceptance of the result were celebrated across the tiny nation.

But he reversed his position a week later.

Rights groups accuse him of jailing, torturing and killing his political opponents while acquiring a vast fortune – including luxury cars and an estate in the US – as most of his people remained impoverished.