Gambia Update: Senegalese Troops Enter Gambia to Remove Yahya Jammeh and Install New President

Senegalese troops have entered Gambia 

Senegalese troops entered neigbouring Gambia on Thursday, an army spokesman said, as part of a regional effort to support its new President Adama Barrow in a showdown with longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh, who has refused to step down.

"We have entered Gambia," Colonel Abdou Ndiaye wrote in a text message to Reuters, shortly after Barrow, who won election in December, was sworn in as Gambia's new president in Senegal.


The military intervention, dubbed Operation Restore Democracy, is being backed by West Africa's regional bloc, ECOWAS, and involves "significant" land, air and sea resources, according to a Senegalese army statement.

"This action aims to re-establish constitutional legality in Gambia and allow the new elected president to take office," it said, adding that the operation was being carried out under an ECOWAS mandate.

Nigeria, which pre-positioned war planes and helicopters in Senegal's capital Dakar, is also part of the operation, but it was not immediately clear if it too had crossed the border. Ghana has also pledged troops.

However, officials said late Thursday that the troops' advance had been temporarily halted to allow for a final attempt at mediation, but would resume again at noon Friday should Jammeh still refuse to cede power.

West African leaders were due to head to Gambia Friday to take part in those mediation efforts, Gambia state TV reported, with the delegation to include the presidents of Liberia, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau as well as a UN representative.

Barrow was inaugurated Thursday in a hastily arranged ceremony at Gambia's embassy in Senegal. The small embassy room held about 40 people, including Senegal's prime minister and the head of Gambia's electoral commission.

A jumbo TV screen broadcast the swearing in ceremony to several hundred watching outside the embassy, as Barrow called for international report not just from ECOWAS but also the African Union and the United Nations.

"This is a day no Gambian will ever forget," said Barrow, dressed in a flowing white robe. After Barrow took the oath of office, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution expressing "full support" to Gambia's new president and calling on Jammeh to step down, condemning his attempts to usurp power.

A last-minute revision to the resolution backed efforts by ECOWAS to ensure that Barrow's election victory on Dec. 1 is respected, using "political means first".

Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private, said an initial reference to ECOWAS' use of "all necessary measures" was dropped and the political reference was added because some members objected to backing military action.