Gambian
President Yahya Jammeh will not be allowed to remain head of state if he refuses
to go after his elected term ends next month, and will face strong sanctions if
he clings to power, the top U.N. official in West Africa said on Wednesday.
Jammeh,
who took power in a coup in 1994, initially conceded defeat in the Dec. 1
election to little-known challenger Adama Barrow, raising the prospect of an
end to 22 years of autocratic rule tainted by allegations of widespread human
rights abuses.
But
in a dramatic about-face that drew international condemnation, he then rejected
the voting results last Friday, and his party is now challenging the outcome at
Gambia’s Supreme Court.
“For
Mr. Jammeh, the end is here and under no circumstances can he continue to be
president. By that time (Jan. 18), his mandate is up and he will be required to
hand over to Mr. Barrow,” Mohammed Ibn Chambas, U.N. Special Representative for
West Africa and the Sahel, told Reuters.
He
said Jammeh would be “strongly sanctioned” if he did not step down and hand
over power to Barrow, without giving details.
Chambas
accompanied a delegation of presidents representing the regional bloc ECOWAS
who traveled to Gambia on Tuesday but failed to reach a deal that would see
Jammeh step down.
Instead,
Gambian soldiers seized the headquarters of the national elections commission
and sealed it off just hours before the presidents touched down in the
riverside nation.
United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that the takeover was
an “outrageous act of disrespect of the will of the Gambian people”.
The
building in the capital Banjul remained deserted on Wednesday aside from two
armed security guards. Its front gate and ground floor entrances were closed.
“No
one has gone to work. I didn’t even try. No one has informed me that I can go
back,” elections commission chairman Alieu Momarr Njai said on Wednesday.
The
ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction filed a challenge
to the election result, even as the delegation held mediation meetings on
Tuesday.
The
court has not held a session for a year and a half, and legal experts believe
that at least four new judges would need to be hired to hear Jammeh’s petition.
“We
do not believe it will be heard by a credible court dedicated to ensuring the
integrity of The Gambia’s democratic process,” a U.S. Embassy statement said.
Analysts
have suggested that the challenge in the Supreme Court - the legal channel for
resolving election disputes - could put diplomats in a difficult position.
While
such disputes are relatively common in Africa, the international community
generally defers to established domestic legal mechanisms for resolving them.
However,
in a notable exception, U.N. troops intervened militarily alongside France to
oust Ivory Coast’s then-president Laurent Gbagbo after he used the
constitutional court to overturn the 2010 election victory of Alassane
Ouattara.
Asked
whether military intervention was an option in Gambia if mediation failed,
Chambas said: “It may not be necessary. Let’s cross that bridge when we get
there.”
ECOWAS
leaders will discuss Gambia at a summit in Nigeria on Saturday.
Source:
Reuters
