Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, who has refused to step down after losing 1st of December elections to Adama Barrow has begun hiring mercenaries.
According to Ceoafrica, the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) has threatened to remove Yahya Jammeh by force if he does not step down when his mandate ends on 18th January 2017, which would pave way for Adama-Barrow’s inauguration as Gambia’s President.
Although, it was unclear whether Presient Jammeh gathered the mercenaries in order to cling on to power or to prevent any attempt to prosecute him for abuses carried out during his long reign, an Ivory Coast’s intelligence officer said there was a big recruitment of former militants from Ivory Coast and mercenaries from Liberia.
A former Liberian army commander added that there are thousands of Liberian former soldiers living in refugee camps who would jump at the chance to earn money by fighting for President Jammeh.
However, an attempt by Presient Jammeh to court Senegalese separatists in the southern Casamance region that borders the Gambia has been rebuffed.
