US tells Gambian President to handover or face consequences

monjola sotubo

January 18, 2017 10:19 AM

Jammeh’s tenure ends on Thursday, January 19, but he is refusing to vacate the office and handover to President-elect, Adama Barrow.

With two days left of his mandate, President Yahya Jammeh has caused a political crisis by refusing to step aside

The United States of America has warned President

Jammeh’s tenure ends on Thursday, January 19, but he is refusing to vacate the office and handover to President-elect, Adama Barrow.

The warning was given via U.S. Department of State spokesman, John Kirby, at a press briefing on Tuesday, January 17.

“President Jammeh is losing opportunities to respect the will of the Gambian people and to peacefully hand over power to the president-elect, which is supposed to happen on Thursday,” Kirby said.

“Doing so would allow him to leave office with his head held high and to protect the Gambian people from potential chaos. Failure to do so will put his legacy – and, more importantly, the Gambia – in peril, and we have been clear about this.

“…We want to see the president-elect properly installed and to have in place a government, which is responsible for and responsive to the needs of the Gambian people,” he added.

Nigeria has sent a warship to The Gambia in preparation for a likely military intervention and Senegal is also preparing ground troops for the same purpose.

Meanwhile, Jammeh has declared a 90-day State of Emergency in the country.

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The Gambian president lost to Barrow in the December 1, 2016 general elections and initially conceded defeat but then backtracked and said he would not step down.

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