(JollofNews) – Out-Going President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia sends packing Presidents Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia, the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and President Buhari of Nigeria. The two were accompanied by Ghana’s just voted-out President – as an example to Jammeh of peaceful regime change in ECOWAS. With an asylum offer to Jammeh in the back pocket, President Buhari hoped to take Jammeh with him to Nigeria to facilitate the inauguration next week of Gambia’s President-Elect Barrow.
Instead, Sirleaf and Buhari could only take the President-Elect with them out of the Gambia to Mali (to brief ECOWAS who have taken the decision to remove Jammeh by military force if Jammeh refuses to hand-over power peacefully).
And so gloom brought about by fear of war descends over one of Africa’s few “peaceful” nations (if dictatorial rule by a now-deranged dictator over 22 years can be called “peaceful”). There has nevertheless been an absence of war during Jammeh’s dictatorship in the Gambia, while all around in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali and Ivory Coast we seen brutal wars.
So the Jammeh-rebuffed ECOWAS Presidents have gone to Mali (with President-Elect Barrow) to decide on what to do about determined Gambian Rebel-Leader-to-be Yahya Jammeh.
There is some hope yet that Jammeh may still leave peacefully on the 11th Hour – and that is what ECOWAS and everyone else is betting on to avoid war. The ECOWAS message to Jammeh from Sirleaf and Buhari on that is clear. The message from from the USA is also equally clear: the US Embassy in Banjul is preparing its citizens for a likely conflict – and expressing total support for the President-Elect. While we await Sirleaf’s and Buhari’s report to the gathering in Mali, a few things can be gathered from the Friday the 13th failure in Banjul:-
1. The extraction of the President-Elect out of Jammeh’s potentially vengeful clutches is a very welcome move. There is no doubt that Jammeh is a threat to the lives of the President-Elect and the Coalition’s leaders.
2. There is also no doubt that the United States and the UK are ready to protect the Coalition leaders remaining at the Coco Ocean Base – just as the US and UK are prepared to defend their citizens and diplomats.
Come 19th January 2017, the world will recognise only one legitimate President of the Republic of the Gambia, His Excellency Adama Barrow. In the circumstances where the Out-Going President is subverting the Gambia’s constitution, the world recognises that the inauguration of the legitimate President, His Excellency Adama Barrow, can wait for the appropriate time. Afterall, he has been inaugurated by the votes of the Gambian people already and the ceremonial inauguration can indeed wait.
Formal ceremony or not, Barrow becomes the recognized President of the Republic of the Gambia on the 19th of January 2017. Period. Barrow should not return to the Gambia until Jammeh gives a public undertaking on television that he will depart on the 18th. Otherwise a desperate Jammeh the Rebel leader will be dangerous to the President-Elect – who should only return to the country once the rebellion is quashed.
Why did Jammeh allow President-Elect Barrow to leave The Gambia?
It seems that Jammeh has been seriously deceived by the loud noises that came from Halifa Sallah and Mai Fatty. Sallah and Fatty kept insisting that “JAMMEH CANNOT STOP THE INAUGURATION” – and Jammeh fell for it by simply concentrating on “STOP THE INAUGURATION AT ANY COST”.
It is brilliant mind games by Halifa Sallah and Mai Fatty and it has allowed the extraction of the President-Elect out of a very dangerous situation. Sirleaf’s statement yesterday that “we cannot comment” until we get to Mali is part of the same smart effort to put Jammeh’s mind at rest – and take Barrow with them to Mali.
Clearly come the morning of 14th January 2017, Jammeh will see that in allowing the President-Elect to leave the Gambia, Jammeh has lost his ace-card and may react vengefully towards the coalition members remaining in the Gambia. But can he? Will he?
Hope
The question arises because the President-Elect’s departure may have been facilitated by the Gambian military’s reluctance to follow Jammeh’s order and stop the President-Elect from leaving. And therein lies the hope for a peaceful out-come: now that the President-Elect is out of harm’s way, the ECOWAS military preparations to remove Jammeh and install the President-Elect will accelerate and Jammeh will not just hear it but see military movements on his narrow borders. And so will Gambia’s Army.
The hope that slightly lifts the gloom is that Jammeh cannot depend on the Gambian Army to fight for him and will take the asylum route out. The second option is that the Gambian Army will arrest Jammeh and allow the inauguration of His Excellency President Adama Barrow to take place. It is simply not conceivable that the Gambian Army will allow a brutal dictator and election-loser, who has brutalized and killed many Gambian Army Officers, to lead them into a war with international forces.
Dida Halake.
Notting Hill,
London, UK
Dida this Asshole understands only one language, force. It’s time that people start speaking that language. It’s undisputable that his end is here but we should not allow him to control the narrative. A lot of Gambians have left the country and travelled to the West to get away from his oppression. It is however important for us to note that the West was not always this peaceful or prosperous. There’s been WW1, WW2 and civil wars in both Europe and the USA. Therefore we as Gambians should accept the reality and prepare ourselves that we may have to transcend war in order to reach the era of development, peace, justice, freedom, equality and prosperity. We should make it very clear to Jammeh that, although, we don’t want war, but if he should foist war upon us then that will be a war we are willing to fight. So let him bring it on.
BABILI MANSA YOU ARE THE CHOICE OF THE MAJORITY. WE ARE NOT BLIND AND WE ARE NOT TRAITORS 22 YEARS OF PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMEN IS WHAT YOU GAVE US.
Jammeh Musa, we are patriotically by your side from now and on and we are ready to die in defending our integrity with the last drop of our blood.
To all those warmongers warning to all of you. Remember that no cockroach will be be spared. The foreign forces you are inviting to help you secure the pesidency for you will be met with an unexpected resistance which will surprise all and sundry. They are relying on their conventional armament superiority but they most know that conventional warfare and guerrila war tactics are not thesame. Senegal you are counting on why cant they uproot the insurgency in Cassamance. Ask the Nigerians why it took them so many years without defeating the Boko Haram.
If they think that if they invade The Gambia to oust Jammeh forcefully and install Barrow is going to be that easy and quick, no its going to be a long battle which they cant sustain and they will end up abandoning The Gambia with their mess.
This is a warning to all the traitors both home and abroad to know that no cockroach will be spared, so let them bite what they can chew or else they will all be choked.
WARNING WARNING WARNING
BE AWARE OF THE DANGERS YOU ARE CREATING. DONT LIVE IN A GLASS HOUSE AND YET THROWING A STONE.
Warning to you ! You pray for terror? Warning! Allah dont love killer. No human shout kill an other this what Allah say. Allah u Akbar . Jammeh rule Gambia so long . Why dont enjoy his privat Life? Give others the Chance to work in head of the country. Peace and Prosperity for the Gambia inschallah
You all knew that Senegal wants to annex The Gambia since Sir Dawda’s regime when they proposed the Senegambia Confederation and it ended up failing. Since then they are searching for ways and means to destabilize The Gambia.
Now that they have achieved what they were eagerly looking for, That is for Gambians to kill each other so that they can extend their territorial rule into the Gambia by installing their puppet who will be answerable to their authority and serve their needs geographically and politically.
But i hope every Gambian with a sound mind should resist invasion and occupation and any Gambian who conievead with them will be labelled as a traitor and a sellout and will be killed like a cockroach. The sovereignty and our national territorial intergrity will never be compromised in any form. That why we are rallying behind the man who jealously guarded that who is Yahya A J J Jammeh Babili Mansa. A true and brave son of The Gambia.
LONGLIVE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE GAMBIA NATIONAL ARMY PRESIDENT YAHYA A J J JAMMEH THE HERO
LONGLIVE THE GAMBIA
Killer Kanyi I feel sorry for you blowing your trumpet. You really need to take your medication or speak to your doctor to increase your dose, in a few days time you will be feeling so sorry for yourself and your so called president jammeh who is going to be in the mercy of gambians. Only then you will stop all this fantasy, remember you are insulting true gambians what goes round comes around. You are a fool and a very narrow minded, Expect disapointment in the coming days. Adama barrow rules as of the 19 of january god bless our motherland.
We all know the current situation is a delicate one, but i sincerely don’t see the point this article is trying to make if not speculation on what jammeh might do. Let’s come up with articles that would put the cause of the gambia forward and not write anything just for the sake of writing.
RE KAWSU JENG
If you referring to the previous comment, why don’t you tell us what jammeh is going to do. My understanding is jammeh has been given every opportunity to handover power peacefully both internally and externally. Do you think I don’t know what am talking about, this is about the plight of my families back home. I think we need to stop talking soft and start talking the language jammeh understands. In life we have to make sacrifices to achieve the true meaning of freedom. This is not about point scoring it is the fact of life. To stop any confusion in the future can you reference your commens who you referring to. You cannot just put a comment not specifying it who it is for. IF you comment is meant for someone else sorry.
My comments were referring to the author (Dida Halake). I concur with your view that we need to make sacrifices for your homeland. I just feel that everbody is just getting up and writing pieces without thinking through the message they are putting across. I dislike the idea of speculating that “jammeh is going to do this or do that to the coalition members” where there is no evidence to back it up. I understand Jammeh has shown his worse side and is capable of anything, but i think such speculations can sometimes give him ideas he never had in first place and the courage to carry out such because of the false impression that it is expected of him due to such writings. Let’s be a little bit more constructive in what we write, and encourage and share ideas on how to strengthen our position instead of just focusing on what jammeh will or will not do. The sad thing is that Halake writeup is making the rounds of most of the gambia online newspapers.
Mr. Jammeh, Please understand the cry of your people, leave power let other people take over. I want to remind you on Liberia, Ivory Coast and other countries stubble leaders. They caused destruction for their people. No leader who loves his/her country will allow the citizens to die or go through suffering. Please relinquish power so as to remain in peace with your people and the world. Gambia is a bless country with more foreign people, please understand the wish of your people and allow peace to reign.
Lawrence
Liberian
Mr. Jammeh, Please understand the cry of your people, leave power let other people take over. I want to remind you on Liberia, Ivory Coast and other countries stubborn leaders. They caused destruction for their people. No leader who loves his/her country will allow the citizens to die or go through suffering. Please relinquish power so as to remain in peace with your people and the world. Gambia is a bless country with more foreign people, please understand the wish of your people and allow peace to reign.
Lawrence
Liberian