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Gambia’s chief of defense forces pledged his allegiance to the country’s new president on Friday, a major shift as mediation continued to persuade the defeated Yahya Jammeh to cede power. Ousmane Badjie told The Associated Press the country’s security services all support the newly inaugurated Adama Barrow and said they would not fight a regional force that was poised to push out Jammeh if talks failed.
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“You cannot push us to war for an issue we can solve politically,” Badjie said. “We don’t see any reason to fight.” Without Gambia’s security forces and his Cabinet dissolved, Jammeh was increasingly isolated as the last-minute talks continued at his official residence in the capital, Banjul, with the leaders of Guinea and Mauritania.
Adama Barrow, who was elected president last month, was sworn in on Thursday, and the UN Security Council voted unanimously to approve the regional military intervention. The inauguration took place at the Gambian Embassy in neighboring Senegal for Barrow’s safety.
The West African regional force, including tanks, moved in during the evening without facing any resistance, said Marcel Alain de Souza, chairman of the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS. At least 20 military vehicles were seen today at the border town of Karang.
The regional force included troops from Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Mali, and they moved in after Barrow’s inauguration and the UN vote.
Guinean President Alpha Conde arrived in Banjul with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. Mauritania has been mentioned as a possible home in exile for Jammeh. After a first round of talks, they broke for Friday prayers and resumed.
Conde will offer Jammeh the chance to step down peacefully, de Souza said.
Jammeh “has the choice of going with President Alpha Conde,” he said, but if that fails, “we will bring him by force or by will.”
Jammeh began negotiations yesterday with ECOWAS and agreed to step down, but demanded amnesty for any crimes he may have committed during his 22 years in power and wanted to stay in Gambia, in his home village of Kanilai, de Souza said. Those demands are not acceptable to ECOWAS, he added.
Jammeh’s continued presence in Gambia would “create disturbances to public order and terrorist movements,” said de Souza. ECOWAS wants Barrow to take power in Gambia without any security threats, said de Souza.
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