Gambia’s Vice President Isatou Njie Saidy has quit amid rising political tensions as Yahya Jammeh refuses to step down as president despite losing a December election.
Saidy, who had been in the role since 1997, is the highest level official to abandon Jammeh’s camp in his standoff with opposition leader Adama Barrow, who won the election.
Also, Gambian president-elect Adama Barrow awaits inauguration Thursday at the country’s embassy in Senegal, as African troops massed at the border to force incumbent Yahya Jammeh to quit after his election defeat.
The United Nations Security Council was to vote later Thursday on endorsing a west African military intervention as Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana dispatched hundreds of troops and fighter jets to The Gambia’s border with Senegal.
Shops were shuttered and streets quiet in and around the capital Banjul with tour operators evacuating hundreds of tourists from the tiny country’s popular beach resorts.
The army chief, however, has insisted his soldiers would not get involved in a “political dispute†nor prevent foreign forces from entering the West African nation.
Barrow, a real-estate agent turned politician who won a presidential vote on December 1, flew to Senegal on January 15 after weeks of rising tension over Jammeh’s steady refusal to step down.
At the helm of the former British colony for 22 years, Jammeh’s mandate expired at midnight (0000 GMT) with no sign of him stepping down. He has attempted instead to block Barrow’s inauguration with a court ruling and by declaring a state of emergency.
Source: Vanguard NGR