The
United States Embassy in Banjul has expressed “full support” of the stance of
the regional bloc, Ecowas, to get incumbent president Yahya Jammeh relinquish
power when his term officially ends in January.
In
a statement issued yesterday, the embassy also expressed disappointment with
Jammeh’s latest remarks on the political impasse.
Below
is the full statement:
We
are disappointed in President Jammeh’s televised remarks of December 20th in
which he indicated that he is unwilling to abide by the will of the Gambian
people and facilitate a democratic transfer of power.
We
fully support the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) recent
consensus declaration that it will support the people of The Gambia and seek to
ensure that President Jammeh cedes power at the end of his term in January.
We
echo the ECOWAS call for President Jammeh to peacefully transfer power to his
elected successor, Adama Barrow, in accordance with Gambian law.
We
applaud the strong statement from ECOWAS, calling on President Jammeh to
transfer power to his elected successor.
We commend President Buhari and President Mahama for agreeing to serve
as mediator and co-chair respectively of an ECOWAS mediation committee.
We
also commend all of the leaders of ECOWAS for their public commitment to attend
the January 19 inauguration of President-elect Barrow.
We
continue to believe that the outcome of the December 1 election reflects the
will of The Gambian people. It is a
profound demonstration of a leader’s strength and commitment to national unity,
when he or she steps aside after losing in a fair and democratic election, such
as The Gambia’s election.
We
continue to call on President-elect Barrow and his supporters to engage with
President Jammeh in a respectful manner and in accordance with Gambian and
international law.
We
also implore the Gambian security forces to continue to ensure peace in the
country, protect all civilians, guarantee the safety and security of
President-elect Barrow, and to respect the democratic transfer of power.
We
strongly urge the Gambian security forces that entered the headquarters of the
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on December 13 to withdraw and not to
threaten or intimidate members of the IEC.
We
view this unnecessary and unprovoked show of force as a move to subvert the
democratic process in The Gambia.
As
we have said before, the United States condemns outgoing President Jammeh’s
statements rejecting the December 1 election results, as well as the decision
by Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party
to file a petition challenging the election before the Supreme Court.
This
action is an attempt to rewrite the results after Jammeh accepted them and
pledged to respect the will of the people on December 2.
We
will continue to monitor the situation and urge all sides to remain calm and
refrain from violence.
