ECOWAS set 4-day deadline to resolve crisis

Senegal is hosting Gambia’s president-elect Adama Barrow until his Jan. 19 inauguration, as President Yahya Jammeh refuses to step down peacefully despite mediation efforts and calls from regional and international leaders.
Jammeh initially conceded to Barrow after losing elections on Dec. 1 but changed his mind a week later, saying the vote was invalid, citing irregularities. His party has submitted a petition to the Supreme Court against the results, but there are not enough judges currently presiding to hear the case.
Leaders from West Africa’s regional bloc, ECOWAS, have met with Jammeh and Barrow in attempts to mediate the situation, and Nigeria has offered asylum to Jammeh. However, after Friday meetings, ECOWAS said no deal was reached.
However, the leaders meeting at a Franco-African summit in the Malian capital Bamako at the weekend set January 19 as deadline to solve the crisis, Radio France Internationale quoted Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe as saying
January 19 is the date when president-elect Adama Barrow has vowed to take power. Mr. Barrow attended the summit bringing together French President Francois Hollande and more than 30 African leaders, while Jammeh was absent. “The choice of Gambian voters in favour of Adama Barrow must be respected,” Hollande said.
After meeting with African leaders at the France-Africa summit in Mali on Saturday, Barrow is now in Senegal, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press about the situation. At the request of ECOWAS, Senegal will host Barrow until his Jan. 19 inauguration, the official said.
The West African regional bloc has said if Jammeh does not cede power it will consider military intervention and has already prepared a standby force led by Senegal, which almost completely surrounds Gambia.
A Nigerian army memo has also ordered officers to prepare a battalion of 800 troops for the possible military intervention, should Jammeh not step down.
The African Union has announced it will cease to recognize Jammeh as Gambia’s legitimate leader as of Jan. 19, when his mandate expires, and warns of “serious consequences” if his actions lead to the loss of lives.
Gambia’s political uncertainty has in the past 10 days sent several thousand people, mostly women and children in buses, fleeing the country of about 1.9 million people across border to Senegal.

… We’re yet to get orders to move troops -Nigeria army

From Molly Kilete. Abuja

The Nigerian armed forces yesterday said it was yet to get orders to move its troops   to Gambia to ensure a peaceful transition of power.
Acting director, defense information, Brigadier-General Abubakar Rabe, who made this known in an interview with Daily Sun, in Abuja, debunked claims that soldiers were being trained at some military training institutions in the country in readiness to move to Gambia.
He said the situation in Gambia was a political one which the military does not want to dabble into except otherwise directed by the government.
“There is nothing going on in the military as far as I am concern. The situation in Gambia, is a political issue so we will not be able to talk on that because it is fairly a political issue.
“We are awaiting for whatever the political leaders decide to do. “From the military side, nothing is going on, but I am assuring that as soon as they decide on whatever they decide to do and instruct us on what to do, we are going to do just that.
“But aside that, very seriously nothing like that in the military, we are waiting for further instructions from the political masters. So that is the situation”. Abubakar, said.
But Daily Sun, gathered that already, the military has directed its units and formation across the country to commence training for personnel in readiness to move at short notice.
Military sources said that the authorities do not need to assemble the soldiers at the Nigerian Army Artillery School, Kotongora, in Niger state, or the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, at Jaji, for further training as the units are capable of conducting such training.