Gambia’s defeated leader agrees to cede power, leave
BANJUL, Gambia — Gambia’s defeated leader Yahya Jammeh announced early Saturday he has decided to relinquish power, after hours of last-ditch talks with regional leaders and the threat by a regional military force to make him leave.
“I believe it is not necessary that a single drop of blood be shed,” Jammeh said in a brief statement on state television. He promised that “all the issues we currently face will be resolved peacefully.”
He did not give details on any deal that was struck, and it was not immediately clear when Adama Barrow, who beat Jammeh in last month’s election, would return from neighbouring Senegal to take power.
But the speech signalled an end to the political crisis that has seen this tiny West African nation caught between two men claiming to be in charge. Late Friday, Barrow declared that “the rule of fear” in Gambia had ended.