Gambians Flee Country As Buhari, Others Fail To Get Jammeh Cede Power
Thousands of Gambians are beginning to take to their heels to neighbouring countries as the President Muhammadu Buhari-led mediation team, on Friday, failed to get President Yahya Jammeh agree to cede power to President-elect Adama Barrow, AFP reports.
President Jammeh’s body language during the ECOWAS leaders visit suggested that he will not bow out of office until the country’s Supreme Court rules on his legal challenge seeking the cancellation of the December 1 presidential election results.
THE WHISTLER gathered that palpable fear of possible military intervention has gripped the citizens as the incumbent president remained unyielding to requests of ECOWAS leaders and the AU to relinquish power to winner of the elections.
Advertisement
According to the national coordinator for Guinea-Bissau’s refugee commission, Tibna Sambe Na Wana, over 1,000 Gambians had crossed into the country.
“It is clear that the total number is far higher than a thousand and rising daily,” Na Wana said.
“They say they are scared of a military escalation,” Na Wana added.
Similarly, the UN refugee agency in Senegal said, “several thousand people” had crossed into the southern Casamance region from The Gambia, especially children.
Advertisement
“Most arrivals in Senegal are Gambians and Senegalese who have been working or living in The Gambia,” said Liz Ahua, UNHCR’s representative for West Africa in Dakar, but added Africans from several other nations were also crossing.
AFP reports that President-elect Barrow was also flown out of Banjul to Mali by the President Buhari-led mediation, which had Nigeria’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama.
“The ECOWAS team has decided to depart Banjul tonight in the company of president-elect Barrow headed for Bamako, Mali,” Onyeama said.
