Senegal will lead military intervention to oust The Gambia’s President, Yahya Jammeh if he refuses to step down when his mandate expires on 19 January, a senior official of the West African regional grouping ECOWAS has said.
“Stand-by forces” were on alert and would be deployed “to restore the people’s wish” if mediators, led by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, failed to persuade Mr Jammeh to give up power, said Marcel Alain de Souza, the chairman of the ECOWAS commission.
He added that it was not ECOWAS’ “wish to set alight the zone” and if Mr Jammeh “loves” his people, he should “negotiate an exit door calmly”:
Mr de Souza said: “If it doesn’t happen, the most radical means will be used.”
Mr Jammeh initially conceded victory to property developer Adama Barrow in the 1 December election, but he later called for the election to be annulled, alleging that it was marred by irregularities.”
The Supreme Court has set 10 January as a date for a case brought by Mr Jammeh’s party to cancel the result. (BBC)
So, it’s ok for other ECOWAS states to mediate over the recalcitrant dictator, Jammeh but does it necessarily have to involve military force? This involves killing, injury and other ‘war’ consequences. It is not the first, neither will it be the last, for a leader to cling to power – but resorting to oust-by-force will only compound the horrors of the common man. Politically, it seems we’re still subserving to the west in Africa as usual whereby some leadership are being directed, rather than directing their own internal affairs. I don’t see why PMB should not just send an emissary to Jammeh and from his presidential seat, coordinate a peaceful arrangement for transition of power. Do we indeed govern our own continent?