Four West African leaders including the Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) traveled to Banjul on Tuesday December 13th, 2016 to meet President Yahya Jammeh. The ECOWAS leaders came to Banjul to urge the Gambian leader to relinquish power as he graciously admitted defeat at the December 1st Presidential elections which saw the opposition coalition upsetting the incumbent by defeating him at the polls. The elections in the Gambia were conducted peacefully and the voters rejected the iron fist leader who has been ruling tiny Gambia with impunity for 22 years.
The unusual urgent visit of Nigerian President Buhari, Ghana’s outgoing President Mahama, Sierra Leone’s Bai Koroma and ECOWAS Chair and President of Liberia Johnson Sirleaf was prompted by Jammeh’s abrupt reversal of his earlier position of conceding the elections to rival opposition Adama Barrow and his opposition coalition. Yahya Jammeh after coming to reality check with the inevitability of him leaving power – something he never anticipated, he reserved his decision and rejected the election results and declared the entire elections void. Jammeh’s revision immediately attracted world wide condemnation after initially receiving praises for peacefully conceding the elections. Many Gambians were shocked that Jammeh had in fact graciously congratulated the president elect and extended an olive branch to work with the incoming President-Elect. Jammeh is however, not usually known for his graciousness especially when it comes to staying in power by all means.
The visit of the high level delegation in the region is a serious warning to Yahya Jammeh that ECOWAS is no longer tolerating anymore dictatorship or political instability in the sub-region. Within 24 hours of Jammeh’s declaration of nullifying the elections, its immediate neighbor Senegal issued a warning asking Jammeh to step down and respect the will of the Gambian people. Senegal proceeded to sermon an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York to discuss the situation. All 15 member states of the UN Security Council condemned Jammeh’s statements and also warn him to respect the will of the people.
Readers may recalled that of recent, West African leaders have been adamant about encouraging member states to embrace Democracy and introduce Presidential term limits. The leaders who are almost all Democratically elected representatives of their states have unified around eliminating any military rule in the sub-region. The ECOWAS leaders intervened in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea Bissau to ensure that those nations successfully transition into civilian elected leaders. In Burkina Faso, the then ECOWAS Chair Macky Sall Senegalese President flew to that country immediately to warn the military who seized power from an interim civilian government. Burkina Faso has since then successfully conducted elections and the winner was sworn in as President. In essence, there appears to be zero tolerance within ECOWAS member states for any leaders to perpetuate themselves in power. This was the message these leaders delivered to Yahya Jammeh to diplomatically leave power and allow a peaceful transition.
While in Banjul, the leaders met with Yahya Jammeh and held a difficult conversation with him about his quest to stay in power. They also met with the opposition coalition – the incoming government and held a long discussion with them. Sources close to the high level visit indicated that Jammeh was receptive to the leaders although nothing concrete has been announced during the visit. The leaders are reported to be convening another meeting in Abuja on Wednesday to brief other member states on the outcome of the discussions with outgoing President Jammeh. Another source reaching Gainako indicated that cabinet ministers within the Jammeh regime have revealed that there is going to be a new government in Gambia hinting that Jammeh may have accepted a deal with the ECOWAS leaders. Jammeh has reportedly sermon religious leaders to the State House in Banjul on Thursday to have a meeting with them. It is expected that Jammeh will reverse course again and accept the results.
The situation however, is very fluid as reports emerge of arm uniform men preventing the IEC members from entering their office building on Tuesday. Whatever the outcome may be Yahya Jammeh certainly seems to be running out of options. It is certain that if he wants to insist on staying in power he is more likely to plunge the country into political chaos something West African leaders and the International community have signaled will not be acceptable. Jammeh’s best bet is to peacefully leave power and allow the Gambian nation and people to continue to nurture a peaceful transition into the third republic. Any resistance by Jammeh is likely going to be met with stiff actions from the sub-region and the United Nations.
2 Comments
President Johnson Sirlleaf, poor woman’s got to be dumbfound. I think, as a mother, she feels sorry for the middle aged lunatic president, Yaya Jammeh, and as well as for the Gambia where it was possible for him to become a president. May God be the guidance of Gambia’s political resolve and its people who have decided for a change. Thanks to this purposeful delegation of Ecowas leaders whose country’s are setting the trend in their democratic prosesses. Long live the ECOWAS. Long live the Gambia.
just love listening to Fatu – her emotional and instinctive insight , for me beats any power of analysis coming purely from the mind – the Lioness. Any wonder the first act of vandalism of any Dictator (notably Yahya Jammeh and Charles Tailor in particular) is to seek to abrogate, denigrate and/or highjack, rather than defend natural female power/the natural Lioness power