Troops of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have halted their march into Gambia on Thursday night to extend the former president Yahya Jammeh one last grace to leave the country by noon on Friday.
According to the troops, failure of Jammeh to heed to the deadline given to him will provoke the troops under Operation Restore Democracy, to continue their march into the capital.
A source monitoring the operation noted that the Gambian troops offered no resistance at the border as they allowed the ECOWAS troops into the country without violence. “Troops in Farafenni refused to fight. They opened border for ECOWAS troops to enter freely. No loss of lives down that end,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gambia’s new President Adama Barrow took the oath of office on Thursday at Gambia’s embassy in Dakar Senegal, calling for international support from West Africa’s ECOWAS bloc, the African Union and the United Nations.
Barrow, after taking the oath, which was administered by the president of Gambia’s bar association, said “This is a day no Gambian will ever forget. Our national flag will now fly high among the most democratic nations of the world.”
The support he canvassed for quickly came in with the United Nations Security Council supporting a resolution backing West Africa’s effort to restore democracy in the small African country. Thereafter, the regional military force launched an intervention effort.
Explaining the decision to suspend the advance to reporters in Dakar late on Thursday, Head of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza said “We think that up until the last minute there is still a solution through dialogue. ECOWAS will send a team led by Guinea’s president, Alpha Conde, and including the presidents of Liberia and Mauritania to Banjul on Friday.
If the mission succeeds, Mr. Jammeh will travel to Guinea before choosing a country of exile. It’s out of the question that he stays in place. … We propose that he leaves in an honourable manner and with respect.”
Mr. De Souza said a total of 7,000 troops from Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Mali are involved in the operation. Troops had already entered Gambia from the southeast, southwest and north before they were ordered to stop, adding that the advance will resume at noon (1200 GMT) on Friday if Jammeh still refused to leave. He noted that Mr. Barrow will return to Gambia once the operation is over.
The U.N. Security Council on Thursday backed ECOWAS’s efforts to ensure Mr. Barrow assumes power, and the United States said it supported the intervention.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement pledged “his full support for his (Barrow’s) determination, and ECOWAS’s historic decision, with the unanimous backing of the Security Council, to restore the rule of law in The Gambia so as to honour and respect the will of the Gambian people.”
ECOWAS and the African Union previously said they would recognise Barrow from Thursday, and nations including the United Kingdom and France were quick to congratulate him.