By Awaal Gata,
Abuja with agency
The crisis rocking Gambia following its disputed December’s presidential election continued yesterday, with Yahya Jammeh refusing to quit and Adama Barrow sworn-in at the country’s embassy in Senegal.
Jammeh lost the election, but asked for the results to be annulled because of errors in the electoral process. His tenure expired on Wednesday, but he refused to step down despite the efforts of a delegation of the sub-regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Azeez, was reported to have flown into the tiny West African country in the early hours of Thursday to persuade Jammeh to quit, but to no avail.
Winner of the election, Barrow, who had been in Senegal and did not return home even when his son was killed by a dog on Sunday, was sworn-in by a Commissioner of Oath at the Gambian embassy in Dakar with the Senegalese president, Macky Sall and a horde of western ambassadors in Senegal present at the ceremony, while hundreds of Gambian expatriates gathered outside the compound.
ECOWAS military forces from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Mali and Togo , stationed at the border, said they were ready to enforce a transfer of power in Gambia.
UN Security Council backing for intervention is being sought by Senegal and the regional bloc ECOWAS, but some diplomats said if Mr. Barrow, 51, requested help after his inauguration such approval would not be needed.
However, Jammeh’s term in office was extended by three months on Tuesday by a two-third majority of the country’s parliament, and some experts say he still has a legitimate claimed to be called the country’s president.
Earlier yesterday, Jammeh’s vice, Isatou Njie Saidy, reportedly quit and abandon Jammeh’s camp. His children and wife had also fled the country.
