(JollofNews) West African leaders are due in the Gambian capital, Banjul, on Friday to convince the country’s sit-tight president Yahya Jammeh to accept the outcome of the December 1st election and relinquish power.
Mr Jammeh has been given until midday on Friday to leave office or be forced out by UN-backed Senegal led regional forces who crossed into Gambian territory on Thursday.
And in a bid to avoid potential loss of lives, President Alpha Conde of Guinea, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania and Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who is also the chairperson of Ecowas, will meet Mr Jammeh to convince him to hand over power to Mr Barrow.
Mr Barrow was sworn-in on Thursday as the Gambia’s third president at a ceremony held at the Gambian embassy in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, which was attended by western and African dignitaries.
The negotiations will be led by President Conde, another good friend of Mr Jammeh, who persuaded the military forces to paused their advances towards Banjul on Thursday pending today’s negotiations.
The chairman of the Ecowas Commission, Marcel Alain de Souza, said that if the meeting with Mr Conde proved unsuccessful, militarily action would follow.
“If by midday, he [Mr Jammeh] doesn’t agree to leave The Gambia under the banner of President Conde, we really will intervene militarily,” he said.
Tension is currently high in the small West African nation with a population of less than two million people after Mr Jammeh annulled the results and filed a petition at the supreme court.
The results were called in favour of Adama Barrow and his opposition coalition.
Mr Jammeh initially conceded defeat and praised the country’s electoral system as rigged proof. He changed his mind a week later citing huge and unacceptable mistakes by the electoral commission.
His attempt to overturn the election result at the Supreme Court has been delayed because of a shortage of judges as most of the judges come from neighbouring countries.
And although his mandate expired on Wednesday, Mr Jammeh is insisting on staying put until the his petition is heard by the Supreme Court in May.
Everything that brings peace without blood, welcome but never never the blood of innocents who have voted for you and for jammeh, mr barrow do not put your hands in the blood of your brothers you can be president without blemishes in your hands, do not sign So that foreigners to come and kill innocents people just to kick jammeh out of the power the time has been finished for him , if allah wants you will be presindent without murdering innocent lives.peace with no military action,,pray for peace ✌️ pray for Gambia
Removing dictatorship is not for the chicken-hearted. It is like removing a tumor by surgery. Why will this fool hold Gambian as ransome for his corrupt goals? He has plundered the country for over 22 years, living royal life as he watches the millions tether on the brink of destruction. Why should they not remove him? If he loves his country as he foolishly espouses, he would not be such a clown throwing such malicious fits and swindling noble leaders of other countries to waste their time removing the madness from his ugly head. Ecowas should flush him out of that mansion he himself forcibly removed Jawara from. This mad cow should live in the jungle somewhere. Are u guys not miffed by his opulent life to the detriment of the whole country? He is not a patriot but a selfish glutton riding on the docility of Gambians. A moron he is.
Rubbish #peace=.
West African citizen are not foreigners in any country of the community. Glad that Barrow seems a every intelligent type but many of us ordinary citizens will have a lot to learn if we don’t want the horrible shadow of Jammeh to haunts us in the future. Did it appear to you #peace= that all those youngmen of the ESF and resources were ordered to roll in across the border for holidays. They are professionals doing an assignment, very carefully and intelligently because technically, this after all is meant to be a peacekeeping intervention. Do you think that we have peace when Jammeh kills, tortures, maim and robs the state in silence, out of your sight and mine…Do you think this is peace? And by perceiving so do you think you are doing justice to the unknown number of Jammeh victims in the Gambia and the sub-region.
#peace= Peace is not a free-gift commodity in most cases of history. Lack of peace in a country, community or family is due to the badness and contemptiousness in our hearts that goes in action.
I still think Jammeh is either already out of the Country, or will be living soon!
So we should all breath a sigh of relief that there will be no fire works – just bills, bills and bills, and who will foot what bill.
I’m sensing a hostage situation here, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf better not go to the state house, rather meet with him at a different location
I am not a Gambian but I’m following the news bit by bit as it unfolds, Yahya Jahmmeh is very heartless and Arrogant, I wonder what a man is still looking in this life after 22 years in power and free access to Gambian assets, he has enriched himself and his entire family, state house is not his father’s house rather for all the Gambians. He should go now as his blood cup is full.
If jammeh dont leave mightday,then let him pay for it,ecowas are ready to do what is go,jammeh the killer,he killed 44 Ghanaians fishermen for nothing,i can wait for him to go down like a rat,evil and devil man,God will punished and punish him again
Mai Ahmad fatty,
The invitations to lofty parties and grandiose events with selective buddies have begun with the dizziness of power at your corridors. More of these will soon follow when Gambians will learn how power can send some people drunken, like you Mai Fatty.
You Coalition will become even worse than Jawara and Jammeh put together. Let’s see how you will deal with your puppet President Barrow.
Babu soli, you are very negative. Instead you pray for better gambia no you are just poiting finger saying unfounded stories be kind and start praying for better gambia
@The pessimistic destroyer. Contemptious to democratic values, one and only @Babu Soli. This leardership of coalition political parties will be listening to Gambian citizens with the best of senses of reasonings because they have done it earlier on to date at this very juncture. They cannot be dictated I believe but are not dictators either. Hope Barrow, O.J, Halifa Ousainou, Mai fatty, Dr. Touray just to mention some, would be steadfast enough to ignore all rumours meant to bring about confusion in their collective endeavours.
You shouldn’t worry that from now on, Gambians have a chance to be listened to by their politicians with intelligence and steadfstness.
@Bourne= Thanks brother
Mediators have landed at the airport. Yaya Jammeh was a no show…. see BBC
Boy you are stupid and parochial, jammeh is stupid and ignorant why is he refusing to step down;jammeh knows that he commit many heinious crimes and he is fear
of been prosecuted whether he like it or not he shall face the music.
Mr Jammah you vow to love and loyal to the Gambia people but why now you are putting resistance not to step down ? Allah never tell you in the Quran to behave selfish but your faith has a question mark.
A deadline is a deadline.The Senegalese commander should show his ability to execute the duty he was tasked with.No fear for a dictator and time to time requesting for extension of deadline means a lot to me. Fire him out period!.He may be planning to escape.
The Senegalese invasion
That’s the SECOND time Senegal has invaded the Gambia. On both ocasions with the pretext of reinstating a “President”.
That’s the pretext but the sole Senegalese clandestine desire of invading our very tiny and developing country that has always been a thorn in the flesh of every Senegalese government is to halt our pace towards progress and prosperity.
Even though over 250,000 Senegalese are making/make a livelihood in the Gambia, the ulterior desire of every Frenchnized neocolonial Senegalese President to annex the Gambia as Saddam Hussein intended in Kuwait.
But the onus of responsibility lies squarely on every Gambian who wants to govern the Gambia stained with the blood of our peaceful people. Jawara was accounted for it and now “President” Barrow will be reckoned for allowing Senegal to lead an invading army into our country.
It also depicts that we have always been regarded as a territory which is at the whims and caprices of Senegal. Because Senegal has never intended to invade Mauritania where their nationals were butchered in cold blood during theEx-President Abdou Diouf regime. The loss of lives of their military in the hands of the Guinea Bissau army equally went unchallenged.
But why does Senegal always want to invade the Gambia? Why the haste and anxiety? A country that has always sheltered her hundreds of thousands of nationals, giving them economic and social safe haven and collaborating with them in all international fora.
If Barrow and his cohorts with the aid of Senegal’s Macky Sall believe they should assume the reins of power at all cost even over Gambian blood, days will come when they will be judged for this irresponsable decision and called to account for it.
I believe a deal can be struck at a negotiating table. The problem with the Barrow camp is time and the haste to nuture power. We can still talk in our Gambian atmosphere and log heads to resolve this MINUTE matter which is simply who rules the Gambian people in PEACE.
Senegalese forces have long been looking forward to invading the Gambia where as in 1981, they would vandalise our properties, steal whatever merchandise they can find in all our rich commercial centres, maim the innocent population, arrest and keep incommunicado any potential figure and opposition to their unruliness and sexually assault our young girls and women.
ECOWAS’s involvement is just a prelude to the covert desire of Senegal who never wants a negotiable solution but an armed invasion.
What happens next is everyone’s guess. If President Jammeh stays put, who can guarantee the period of time it will take to oust him and the impending costs on life and material.
Barrow is erroneously following the path of Ex-President Jawara with the ill-advice of his cohorts; Mai Fatty, Fatoumatta Tambajang, Hamat Bah, Omar Jallow, Dembo Bai Force Bojang, Halifa Sallah, Sedia Jatta and “Dr” Isatou Touray. Equally faltering the Gambian masses.
Each of these cohorts is just looking for revenge, quick position and a way to perpetrate their buddies, familes and love-ones into lucrative Gambian official positions. Fatoumatta Tambang a blood cousin sister of Ex-Lt Sanna Sabally left the Jammeh government when his cousin brother was arrested and jailed.
Mai Fatty, Sedia Jatta, Halifa Sallah, Dembo By Force Bojang, Omar Jallow are all defeated political figures who revenge could only be met within the “coalition” party. That “Coalition” will soon tumble into ashes as personal interests would soon pervade. We must be very careful, Gambians not to join the bandwagon that would inevitably plunge us into an undaunting ditch. Today’s political fanfare is at the climax but tomorrow’s collective welfare is the most crucial.
When Gambians and other foreign nationals are fleeing because of the uncertainty at the outcome of the political impasse, Mai Fatty and Adama Barrow have already assumed the party-style governance of inviting Gambians to a grand-night party at one of Dakar’s most luxurious and expensive hotels. Who is defraying the costs? What’s the haste in partying while the political predicament still prevails and lives are still looming?
Our future still remains bleak!
I imagine yayha Jimmeh would have preserved what respect he had and would even gain more had he respectfully stepped down as it seemed he was going to. It’s tragic that despite wanting to remain in a country he loved (he was not a good leader but he still loved living in his country as do we all) he ultimately squandered that all and now has to leave. It is also poetic justice as he forced many to also leave the country they held dearest and even leave family and friends behind.
The greatest tragedy is that All of this. Every single thing, could have been avoided. None of it had to happen, not this way. On a happier note however, we now have a new president that at least at a glance holds all the best wishes for this country and ailing to redeem it and go even beyond that. I wish him the best and would like to see what he has to offer.
The time has come for change in The Gambia. There is no need for bloodshed, so let all Gambia and His Excellency Adama Barrow be patient. The time has come for Sheik Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahyah J. A. A Jammeh to go. Let’s allow him to go in peace and let the good people of The Gambia enjoy the transition peacefully. The Gambia is a great nation and there is a new sun rising in The Gambia to bring new light to the rest of Africa. Young people of The Gambia, this is the time to invest in yourselves and become a blessing to the rest of Africa and the world. God bless The Gambia. Long live The Gambia. GOD BLESS GAMBIA.
I’ve read that he’s got his human shields with him, is that true ?
The time has come for change in The Gambia. There is no need for bloodshed, so let all Gambia and His Excellency Adama Barrow be patient. The time has come for Sheik Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahyah J. A. A Jammeh to go. Let’s allow him to go in peace and let the good people of The Gambia enjoy the transition peacefully. The Gambia is a great nation and there is a new sun rising in The Gambia to bring new light to the rest of Africa. Young people of The Gambia, this is the time to invest in yourselves and become a blessing to the rest of Africa and the rest of the world. Long live The Gambia. GOD BLESS THE GAMBIA.
This response on the part of the West African leaders is quite commendable. It also sets the pace that such power-drunkenness does not have a place again in the sub-region. One can only hope that by all these moves, good governance will be engendered and the quality of life will be positively impacted.
Soli we have enough of your ramblings and inuendos.your mentor would have to go.Men of conscience and moral rectitude cannot be stained by your by jabbering.you are a very dishonest intellectual and u will undoubtedly be one of killer jammeh’ s cohorts and enablers in commiting his heinous crimes against the people he so much pretend to love.u are a stupid bigot.Gambians know better.
HIS EXCELLENCY SHEIKH PROFESSOR YAHYA A J J JAMNEH BABILI MANSA COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE GAMBIA ARMED FORCES AND PRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA.
Babili Mansa is here to stay and no force on earth is capable to remove him from his position. I would inform puppet Barrow and all his gang of sellouts and traitors with their foreign backers to go to hell.
Jammeh Musa you are the legitimate ruler of the Islamic Republic of The Gambia and who ever dont like that can go to hell. All the Bastard who are plotting to overthrow you illegitimately will all be killed and go to hell. Babili Mansa is guarded by God The Almighty, who Jah bless no one can curse.
With all the rattlings and warmongerings does not move Jammeh Jilanka an inch. Enemies of President Jammeh can all go to hell or they can eat their cowardly poops.
LONGLIVE BABILI MANSA AND LONGLIVE THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA.
Soli is a bitter-cola-brain-diehard. To him, it is not about common sense of reasoning and realities about a country’s future but a ‘Jammeh MILITANCY’ thing. That’s why he always sounds outdated.
Soli we have enough of your ramblings and inuenvdos.your mentor would have to go.Men of conscience and moral rectitude cannot be stained by your by jabbering.you are a very dishonest intellectual and u will undoubtedly be one of killer jammeh’ s cohorts and enablers in commiting his heinous crimes against the people he so much pretend to love.u are a stupid bigot.Gambians know better.