Jammeh Agrees to Vacate Office as WACSOF Urges Gambians to Protest

By Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The incumbent Gambia’s President Adama Barrow has confirmed that his predecessor Yahya Jammeh has agreed to step down and leave the country.

Barrow made the announcement on his Twitter handle after hours of talks aimed at persuading Jammeh to recognise the result of the presidential election held early last month.

The presidents of Guinea and Mauritania were locked in talks with Jammeh for hours yesterday negotiating his future.

The motorcade for the delegation of West African leaders was later seen leaving The Gambia’s presidential residence, according to Reuters news agency.

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

The man who once said he would rule The Gambia for a billion years is finally leaving.

He is thought to have been offered an amnesty deal, so that he will not face charges of human rights abuses. He had wanted to stay in The Gambia but this was not negotiable.

There have been suggestions he may now go to Guinea, although he has been offered asylum in Nigeria and it is thought Morocco has done the same.

Jammeh’s term expired at midnight on Wednesday – but, while still president, he engineered a parliamentary vote to extend his presidency.

As Barrow has already been sworn in, the country could be said to have two presidents at the same time.

Ecowas said that its forces, from Senegal and other West African countries, had encountered no resistance after entering The Gambia.

After first accepting defeat in the election he reversed his position and said he would not step down. He declared a 90-day state of emergency, blaming irregularities in the electoral process.

The electoral commission accepted that some of its early results had contained errors but said they would not have affected Mr. Barrow’s win.

Jammeh had said he would stay in office until new elections were held.

West African nations have deployed troops to The Gambia, threatening to force Jammeh out of office.

Barrow was sworn-in Thursday in the neighbouring Senegal and has since been staying in the Gambian embassy.

His legitimacy as President has been recognised internationally, after he won December’s Presidential election.

 Although leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had threatened to use military force against Jammeh, WACSOF however asked civil society organisations in the Gambia to galvanise citizens to complement ECOWAS’ efforts.

The Acting General Secretary of WACSOF, Mr. Auwal Musa who made this call on yesterday at a press briefing in Abuja on the situation in the Gambia, also requested governments of all countries across the world to stand against Jammeh and break all ties with his government.

Musa expressed WACSOF’s concern over the intention of Jammeh to plunge the country into anarchy, and appealed to other international bodies to withdraw their supports to and impose severe diplomatic sanctions on his government.

He said WACSOF had been working with ECOWAS to ensure that tenure limit was imposed in the Gambia and the entire region of West African to sustain democratic governance.

“International human rights law provides important protections that Jammeh’s government has frequently violated, including the rights to security of persons, to fair trial and to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

“The continuous gross violation of the fundamental human rights of the Gambians by dictator Jammeh necessitated WACSOF to intensify a peaceful campaign for election in the Gambia,” said Musa.

He noted that Jammeh’s refusal to hand over to Barrow after a peaceful election was perceived by WACSOF as an act to mortgage the collective will of Gambians and the electoral process.

Musa then stated: “We call on the Gambians to embark on a peaceful civil disobedience against Jammeh’s regime until he relinquishes power.”

According to him, “WACSOF has been at the forefront in promoting tenure limit in the region to ensure peaceful, transparent, democratic and participatory election in West Africa. Incidentally, Yahaya Jammeh has consistently refused to comply with this as well as the ECOWAS protocol on democracy and good governance.”

Musa said until Barrow takes over the entire government of the Gambia, all civil society and media groups across the world should stand with the people of the Gambia.

Jammeh reportedly came to power in 1994 through a coup, and has ruled the Gambia for about 22 years. His refusal to relinquish power to Barrow has prompted ECOWAS to prepare a military force in readiness to push him out if he failed to hand over.