LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – West African leaders will make a decision Saturday on how to resolve Gambia’s electoral crisis and its longtime leader’s refusal to accept defeat in elections, Nigeria’s presidential spokesman said Friday. A military intervention led by Senegal could be in the offing.
“One way or the other, a decision will be taken,” spokesman Garba Shehu said. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari heads a committee named by the Economic Committee of West African States to resolve the crisis.
The regional bloc has threatened to send troops led by neighboring Senegal if President Yahya Jammeh does not step down Jan. 19, when his mandate ends. Shehu said a decision will be made Saturday when West African leaders meet for the inauguration of Ghana’s new president. It will be the second time a Ghanaian president has peacefully stepped aside to make way for a newly elected leader.
In Gambia, President Yahya Jammeh initially conceded defeat in the Dec. 1 vote then later demanded a new election. The United Nations, the United States, the European Union and others have united in criticizing him.
The West African bloc has pledged to protect Gambia’s President-elect Adama Barrow, who has said he fears for his life under a Jammeh administration accused of gross human rights violations including arbitrary detentions and deaths in custody of political opponents.