Step Down Or Put Your Legacy In Danger, U.S Warns Jammeh

The embattled president is expected to end his 22-year reign on Thursday, January 19 and expected to cede power to Barrow, who was declared winner of the country’s election on December 1, 2016.

Jammeh had publicly rejected the outcome of the election results, after which he urged the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, to allow the country’s Supreme Court to rule on his legal challenge of the December 1 poll.

He has been under pressure to peacefully accept the results and step down by both the African Union and ECOWAS. The joint mediation team led by President Muhammadu Buhari visited the country on two occasions persuading him to hand over power to Barrow.

On Tuesday, Jammeh declared a 90-day State of Emergency in The Gambia, a day before his official mandate ends. The exact terms of the state of emergency remain unknown, as no details were provided with the announcement.

Spokesperson of the U.S. Department of State, Mr John Kirby, said at a press briefing on Tuesday that Jammeh should respect the people of The Gambia, to allow him leave office with his head held high.

The U.S. had regretted that Jammeh’s action had made the situation in The Gambia to become “very uncertain”.

“President Jammeh is losing opportunities to respect the will of the Gambian people and to peacefully hand over power to the president-elect, which is supposed to happen on Thursday.

“Doing so would allow him to leave office with his head held high and to protect the Gambian people from potential chaos.

“Failure to do so will put his legacy – and, more importantly, the Gambia – in peril, and we have been clear about this.

“I don’t know what interference he’s referring to, but we obviously want to see The Gambia succeed.

“And we want to see the president-elect properly installed and to have in place a government, which is responsible for and responsive to the needs of the Gambian people.

“We call on President Jammeh to listen to his own people, to listen to the Gambian people who have clearly called on him to accept the results of the Dec. 1 election.

“And to again agree to what he already agreed to, which is a peaceful handover of power to President-elect Barrow.

“We believe that ECOWAS can certainly play an important role in providing security and addressing some of the concerns that there could be violence around the transition.

“I just would say that we do, obviously, support ECOWAS as a force for peace and security in the region, and specifically in The Gambia.

“Well, again, I don’t want to speak to what possible actions they may take. I don’t want to get out in front of those decisions.”

In a bid to ensure that Jammeh step down, the Nigerian military on Wednesday sent warships and troops to a base of the Economic Community of West African States in Senegal.