BANJUL, Gambia: Gambians on Saturday awaited the departure of Yahya Jammeh to a life of exile, with some nervousness remaining over a deal reached with west African leaders that headed off a regional military intervention. Jammeh accepted to hand power peacefully to President Adama Barrow, who is waiting in neighbouring Senegal for the strongman of 22 years to leave. Marathon talks with Guinea’s Alpha Conde and Mauritania’s Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz yielded agreement that he would go, but Conde remained in Banjul on Saturday to hammer out the finer details.
The agreement “foresees the departure of Yahya Jammeh from The Gambia for an African country with guarantees for himself, his family and his relatives,” Aziz said on return to Nouakchott in remarks quoted by the official AMI news agency. Activists will be keen to see Jammeh — who controlled certain sections of the security forces — refused amnesty for crimes committed during his tenure, which was rife with rights abuses. Several sources said Jammeh was likely to leave on Saturday, but so far there has been no clear agreement on where he would go, with Morocco, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania all mentioned as possibilities by diplomats.
Jammeh’s actions will be carefully monitored as he has previously agreed to step down after recognising Barrow as winner of the December 1 elections — before completely reversing his position. “I have decided today in good conscience to relinquish the mantle of leadership of this great nation with infinite gratitude to all Gambians,” Jammeh said on state television early on Saturday. “My decision today was not dictated by anything else than the supreme interest of you, the Gambian people and our dear country,” he added, without thanking Abdel Aziz or Conde for their mediation efforts. — AFP
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