Gambia’s Defeated Leader Agrees to Cede Power

Defeated Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh has agreed to cede power to the country’s newly inaugurated leader, a Senegalese government official confirmed late Friday.

Final arrangements were being made to the agreement, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of lack of authorization to speak to the press.

Jammeh, however, has offered to step aside once before but changed his mind.

But he was rapidly losing any claim to power, as the chief of Gambia’s defense forces pledged his allegiance to the new president, Adama Barrow, and said Gambian forces would not put up a fight.

The leaders of Guinea and Mauritania arrived in Gambia earlier Friday to persuade Jammeh to cede power in the West African nation, while a regional military force awaited orders to roll into the capital and force him from the office he held for 22 years.

Barrow, who was elected president last month, was sworn in Thursday, and the UN Security Council voted unanimously to approve the regional military intervention. His inauguration took place at the Gambian Embassy in neighboring Senegal for Barrow’s safety.
 [tasnimnews.com]
21/1/17
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