The United Nations has given its backing to coalition forces in Africa to remove Yahya Jammeh after he refused to leave power.
Troops have been ordered to remove Yahya Jammeh even if it entails force
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday backed efforts by
West African states to ensure Gambian President Adama Barrow assumes
power from Yahya Jammeh, but stressed that it should be pursued by
political means first.
West African regional bloc ECOWAS said it would remove Jammeh if he
did not hand over power. Senegalese troops entered neighboring Gambia
on Thursday, an army spokesman said shortly after the Security Council
vote.
Barrow won an election in early December and the mandate of Jammeh,
who has been in power since a 1994 coup, ended on Thursday. Overnight
talks to persuade Jammeh to stand down failed despite his increasing
political isolation.
Jammeh initially conceded to Barrow but then back-tracked, saying
the vote was flawed and there had to be a re-run. Barrow was sworn in at
Gambia's embassy in Senegal on Thursday.
The 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that expressed "its
full support to the ECOWAS in its commitment to ensure, by political
means first, the respect of the will of the people of The Gambia as
expressed in the results of 1st December elections."
The initial Senegalese draft text circulated on Wednesday would
have had the council support "ECOWAS in its commitment to take all
necessary measures" to install Barrow. But that language was softened to
win unanimous support, diplomats said.
The council did not need to formally authorize a military intervention in Gambia because Barrow requested ECOWAS help.
"Nothing in this resolution should be interpreted as authorization
for the express use of force," Uruguay's U.N. Ambassador Elbio Rosselli
told the council after the vote.
Bolivia's U.N. Ambassador Sacha Sergio Llorentty Soliz echoed Rosselli, saying the resolution could not be seen as "support or endorsement for the use of force."
The council resolution asked "the Gambian defense and security
forces to demonstrate maximum restraint to maintain an atmosphere of
calm in the Gambia and stresses their duty and obligation to place
themselves at the disposal of the democratically elected authorities."
It also requested Jammeh to carry our a peaceful transfer of power.
Farhan Haq, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said on Thursday: "The U.N. supports regional efforts aimed at resolving the crisis peacefully."
-Reuters
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