UPDATE - Regional leaders in Gambia hopeful to resolve impasse

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM AFRICAN UNION PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL

By Saikou Kalleh

BANJUL, Gambia (AA) – Working to resolve the impasse over last month’s Gambian presidential elections, Nigeria’s foreign minister Friday expressed optimism that the current round of talks by regional leaders will yield positive results.

“The purpose is to meet President [Yahya] Jammeh so that everybody can agree on a road map going forward. We are pretty optimistic that the talks will not fail this time,” Geoffrey Onyeama told journalists in the capital Banjul.

Onyeama accompanied former Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Nigeria’s President Muhammed Buhari, who is leading efforts to negotiate an exit for Jammeh, who has refused to step down after losing the Dec. 1 election.

He added, “These talks are very crucial because it is on the basis of these talks that everybody can now begin to see to which option they should take.”

Buhari, the lead negotiator, when asked if he believes Jammeh will step down, reluctantly told journalists before meeting the outgoing president, “Only God knows what will happen.”

In addition to Jammeh, the regional leaders are also expected to also meet the team of President-elect Adama Barrow.

Meanwhile, Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction has filed an injunction to stop Barrow’s inauguration, set for Jan. 19.

In a statement issued Friday, the African Union Peace and Security Council said that they will cease to recognise President Yahya Jammeh as Gambia’s legitimate president on Jan. 19, the date he is due to hand power to the winner of a Dec. election, Adama Barrow.

The statement warns of serious consequences “in the event that his [Jammeh's] action causes any crisis that could lead to political disorder, humanitarian and human rights disaster, including loss of innocent lives and destruction of properties".

Gambia was plunged into a crisis on Dec. 9 when Jammeh, who has held power in the small West African state since 1994, rejected the election results a week after conceding defeat to Barrow, a little-known property developer.

Jammeh said the electoral process was tainted with “unacceptable irregularities” and ordered a new vote before filing a petition seeking to annul the results.

Regional leaders and the ECOWAS economic bloc have urged him to step down.