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Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh Flies Into Exile In Equatorial Guinea

Gambia’s former leader, Yahya Jammeh, flew out of the capital Banjul on Saturday and into exile after stepping down from power. According to the BBC, … Continue reading Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh Flies Into Exile In Equatorial Guinea


Yayah Jammeh: Handover Deadline May Be Extended

Yayah Jammeh: Handover Deadline May Be ExtendedGambia’s former leader, Yahya Jammeh, flew out of the capital Banjul on Saturday and into exile after stepping down from power.

According to the BBC, he boarded a plane to Guinea, and will from there, travel on to exile in Equatorial Guinea, regional group ECOWAS says.

The authoritarian leader took power in a 1994 coup and stepped down overnight in the face of pressure from West African armies that entered Gambia to force him to recognise that he lost an election in December to President Adama Barrow.

ECOWAS mounting pressure to force Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh out of office paid off after all, as he has attributed his decision to step down to the pressure from West African armies which entered the Gambia this week.

Mr Jammeh had rejected the result of the presidential election he lost to Mr Barrow, even after he had earlier said he accepted the defeat.

His announcement on state television overnight signalled an end of a political impasse.

While Jammeh held on to power, tension rose, countries withdrew their nationals from the tiny nation and some 7,000 soldiers from Nigeria and Senegal entered Gambia backed by tanks and warplanes.

They were poised to move into the capital as Jammeh’s army provided no resistance.

While mediators led by Nigerian leader, Muhammadu Buhari, were making attempts to convince Mr Jammeh to accept defeat and hand over power to Mr Barrow, Nigeria’s House Of Representatives pushed forward a request to the President.

They wanted President Buhari to provide an offer of asylum in Nigeria to Jammeh, but mediation talks did not yield result.

Reuters had reported that Jammeh spent much of Friday in talks in Banjul with the presidents of Guinea and Mauritania over where he would live and whether he could be offered amnesty for alleged crimes committed during his years in power.

Those talks were yet to be concluded and some in Banjul said they were angry he was being allowed to bargain and sceptical he would in fact step down, not least because he first accepted he lost the December 1 election to Barrow and then changed his mind.