The United Nations Security Council has insisted that Gambia’s incumbent President,Yahya Jammeh must step down after he lost last week’s Presidential elections. Yahya Jammeh who has ruled The Gambia for twenty-two years lost the Presidential election to the opposition candidate, Adama Barrow.
Jammeh initially accepted the results of the election and congratulated Barrow before making an unexpected turnaround to demand that fresh elections be held. He cited ‘abnormalities’ in the elections and rejected the results ‘totally’.
The AU had earlier condemned his decision and urged him to allow the election results stand and the UN Security council’s fifteen members have unanimously insisted that Jammeh must step down in January.
In a press statement issued today, the 15-member Council called on outgoing President Yahya Jammeh “to respect the choice of the sovereign people of Gambia, as he did on 2 December, and to transfer, without condition and undue delay, power to the President-elect, Mr. Adama Barrow.”
The Council also urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint, refrain from violence and remain calm, and requested that the security of President-elect Barrow and that of all Gambians be fully ensured.
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