The African country of Gambia faces the prospect of military intervention by regional forces after a last-ditch attempt to convince President Yahya Jammeh to step down and hand over power to the country’s president-elect, Adama Barrow.
According to Ceoafrica, President Jammeh, who lost the December 1 election to Adama Barrow, has refused to leave office despite international pressure and a threat by leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to enforce his election defeat.
Troops from Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and Togo are at the borders of Senegal, waiting for a green light to intervene and unseat Yahya Jammeh, who according to the constitution is no longer the country's legitimate ruler.
The Gambia’s capital, Banjul, has been turned into a 'ghost town' with tens of thousands of people fleeing the capital and at least 26,000 crossing the border into Senegal, for fear of violence that may occur over President Jammeh’s refusal to hand over power.
Meanwhile, Ousman Badjie, the Gambia’s chief of defence staff, has said that he will not put his men on the line and they will not fight or die for Yahya Jammeh.
However, Adama Barrow, who fled to Senegal earlier in the week, has pledged to go ahead with his inauguration on Thursday on Gambian soil, as he also vowed inauguration on social media platform on twitter by posting that “we made history in December, our future starts tomorrow”.