ECOWAS will deploy troops to Gambia if Jammeh does not step down
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it will deploy troops to the Gambia if longtime President Yahya Jammeh does not leave office at the end of his mandate in January.
Marcel de Souza, the president of ECOWAS, said on Friday that Senegal, which completely surrounds the Gambia, has been chosen to lead any potential military intervention if Jammeh insists to remain in power.
"The deadline is January 19, when the mandate of Jammeh ends," de Souza told reporters in Mali's capital, Bamako. "If he doesn't go, we have a force that is already on alert, and this force will intervene to restore the will of the people."
The Gambia's opposition leader Adama Barrow won the December 1 election, securing 43.3 percent of the votes.
Jammeh, who has governed the country for 22 years, initially accepted the results but later reversed his position, saying the polls had been riddled with irregularities. He vowed to challenge the outcome in the Supreme Court of the Gambia.
On December 21, the United Nations Security Council called on Jammeh to hand over power to President-elect Barrow, whose inauguration ceremony is expected to be held on January 19.
Jammeh seized power in a 1994 military coup. He has come under fire by human rights groups for what is said to be a crackdown on his opponents.
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