Senegal to
host Gambia’s president-elect until swearing-in
ON JANUARY 15,
2017
Senegal will
host Gambian president-elect Adama Barrow until his swearing-in ceremony, the
state-owned Senegalese news agency APS reported Sunday. The swearing-in is due
to take place on Thursday, but outgoing President Yahya Jammeh has challenged
the result of the Dec. 1 election at the Supreme Court.
Barrow arrived
in Dakar shortly after midnight on Sunday, APS quoted an unnamed official
source as saying. Gambia Opposition candidate, Adama Barrow The agency said
Senegalese President Macky Sall had accepted to host Barrow at the request of
the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at a Franco-African
summit in the Malian capital Bamako on Saturday. ECOWAS had set Thursday as a
deadline to try to resolve the Gambian political crisis, Radio France
Internationale earlier quoted Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe as saying.
Jammeh’s
refusal to concede defeat has sparked fears of violence in the West African
country. Barrow attended the Franco-African summit, while Jammeh was absent,
following talks between ECOWAS mediators and both leaders in Gambia on Friday.
A statement
from Barrow’s office said Jammeh’s meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu
Buhari and other ECOWAS representatives was “unproductive.” The talks with
ECOWAS came several hours after Gambia’s ruling party filed a motion with the
Supreme Court to prevent Barrow from being sworn into office on Jan. 19.
ECOWAS earlier
pledged to send troops to ensure a peaceful transition of power if Jammeh
persists in his refusal to step down after ruling Gambia with an iron fist for
more than two decades. National science teachers association
Vanguardngr
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