Jammeh: Wait for court decision
Gambia president said that date marking the end of his mandate is ‘not carved in stone’
Gambia’s president said late Sunday that he has filed an injunction to restrict president-elect Adama Barrow from taking office Thursday and to bar other parties from swearing the opposition coalition leader in, telling Gambians they must wait for a Supreme Court hearing before he considers stepping down after more than 22 years in power.
President Yahya Jammeh addressed the small West African nation as Senegal said it was hosting Barrow until his January 19 inauguration. Jammeh said that date marking the end of his mandate is “not carved in stone.”
Application filed
“I have confirmed that we have filed an application for an injunction to restrict Mr. Adama Barrow from being sworn in as well as restricting the chief justice and any other parties from swearing in Mr. Adama Barrow until the application is decided by the Supreme Court of Gambia. And until then, the status quo remains,” Jammeh said.
The 51-year-old leader called the chairwoman of the West African bloc, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, during his state TV broadcast. While on the phone, he confirmed that he filed the injunction and requested that the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, help facilitate Supreme Court judges.
The bloc has been mediating the crisis in Gambia. “The only peaceful resolution of this impasse is through the courts,” he told the Liberian leader.
Jammeh, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1994, had conceded after losing in the Dec. 1 election. A week later, he rejected the vote, saying there were irregularities. He and his party filed a petition calling for a new vote, and he appointed judges to the Supreme Court, which had not sat for over a year.