By Teddy Nwanunobi
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – No fewer than 45,000 Gambians have fled from the tiny West African nation to neighbouring Senegal, as the battle to forcefully remove Yahya Jammeh from the State House in Banjul draws nearer, the United Nations has said.
Jammeh was defeated by Adama Barrow in December 1 election, which result Jammeh had initially accepted.
But he reversed his decision a week later, claiming that voter fraud had cost him the election.
All persuasions by delegates led by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to convince Jammeh to step aside have yielded little or no result.
Nigeria has authorised generals to mobilise an 800-strong battalion to spearhead the mission.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed that a warship headed toward Gambia for “training” as regional countries prepared to intervene.
Also, the Senegalese troops have been waiting near the Gambian border since Wednesday.
The West African bloc is now preparing to use force to end Jammeh’s rule, and install Barrow in the presidential office.
Following Jammeh’s refusal to leave power peacefully, Barrow has been in neighbouring Senegal since last week, amid fears that he could be thrown in jail, or even killed, if he stayed in Gambia ahead of taking charge.
He was due to hold his inauguration at the Banjul’s Independence Stadium on Thursday, January 19.
But to avoid trouble, his inauguration ceremony was held in the Gambian embassy in Senegal, where he was sworn-in as the nation’s 3rd President.
Out of fear of an impending invasion by the troops from Nigeria and Senegal to force Jammeh out of the State House, tens of thousands of Gambians have fled the country.
“Around 45,000 people are now reported to have arrived in Senegal from Gambia amid ongoing political uncertainty,” the United Nations said on Friday in its Twitter account, @UN.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has warned that the state of emergency in Gambia should not be a reason for repression.
“Gambia’s State of Emergency does NOT give a license for repression,” it wrote on its Twitter account, @amnesty.
