Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh Refuses to Leave as Adama Barrow Announces Inauguration

Young men shouted and sang while hanging out of cars, and children danced with their mothers on main roads near the capital, Banjul, where the long-serving leader Yahya Jammeh was believed to remain despite the expiry of his mandate and a military intervention that could remove him at any moment.

Four of Gambia’s neighboring states in West Africa – Senegal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Liberia – have each learned from hard experience from past leaders who failed to follow the will of the people and did not hand over power peacefully.

Jammeh’s dramatic about-face on his election loss to Barrow, at first conceding and then challenging the vote, appeared to be the final straw for the global community, which had been alarmed by his moves in recent years to declare an Islamic republic, leave the Commonwealth and leave the ICC.

(JollofNews) – Adama Barrow has been sworn-in this afternoon as the third president of the Gambia.

But thousands have fled the West African country and foreign tourists were hurriedly evacuated as tensions rose in the last days with many fearing violence and a possible civil war.

According to the Senegalese radio station’s correspondent in Banjul, Jammeh traveled with Guinean President Alpha Conde in the private jet of the latter.

It was not immediately clear if Mr Jammeh was inside one of the dozens of vehicles.

The force, including tanks, rolled into The Gambia without facing any resistance, said Marcel Alain de Souza, chairman of the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS.

The presidents of Guinea and Mauritania were locked in talks with Mr Jammeh for hours on Friday negotiating his future. “Why should they force him to leave?” said Momodou Badji, 78, in Banjul’s Kanifing neighbourhood.

“Diplomacy is a long road – it always has been and always will be – so every opporutiny to find a resolution is the best means possible for the region”, Robin Sanders, a former United States ambassador to ECOWAS, told Al Jazeera.

In conclusion, the South African Government expressed it hope that President Adama Barrow returns to his country to assume the role democratically bestowed on him by the people of The Gambia.

“From today on I am the president of The Gambia regardless of whether you voted for me or not”, he said.

Ecowas wants Mr Barrow to take power in Gambia without any security threats.

After his inauguration, Barrow immediately called for regional and global backup, which was enacted with the leaders from neighboring countries and United Nations officials flown into Gambia’s capital, Banjul, for last minute talks.

He also called for Gambia’s armed forces to stay in their barracks.