A tragic incident has hit the President-elect of Gambia. His eight-year-old son, Habibu Barrow has reportedly died after being bitten by a dog. He di
A tragic incident has hit the President-elect of Gambia. His eight-year-old son, Habibu Barrow has reportedly died after being bitten by a dog. He died on the way to the hospital on Sunday in Manjai near the Gambian capital Banjul. Unfortunately, Barrow missed his son’s funeral as he was advised to remain in Senegal for his safety. Adama Barrow won the country’s presidential election last year but outgoing President Yahya Jammeh has refused to accept the result. The regional body, Ecowas has asked Barrow to stay in Senegal for his safety until Thursday the planned date of the inauguration. The body also says it is considering military intervention to force Jammeh to relinquish power.
Jammeh applied to the Supreme Court to stop Barrow’s inauguration but on Monday, the Chief Justice refused to rule on the issue as he was a subject of the injunction which sought to stop him swearing in Barrow, marking a dead end for the former soldier who has refused to heed international pleas that he quit.
Already, thousands of people have been leaving the country, saying it is no longer safe. Tensions are rising in the capital Banjul as heavily armed security forces man checkpoints throughout the city.
Yahya Jammeh
In related news, three more Gambian ministers have resigned from Jammeh’s government despite a vow by defeated President Yahya Jammeh to remain in office. They are Neneh MacDouall-Gaye as Foreign Affairs minister, the Trade minister, Abdou Jobe and Environment minister, Pa Ousman Badjie. Abdou Kolley, the Finance and Economic minister reportedly resigned on Sunday. In her resignation letter dated January 16, Macdouall-Gaye suggested that it was untenable for her to continue to serve in the government given the protracted impasse caused by President Yahya Jammeh’s challenge of the December 1 poll results which handed victory to opposition candidate Adama Barrow.
The international community has condemned his volte-face as a brazen attempt to overturn the will of the people. The head of the country’s Independent Electoral Commission Alieu Momar Njai who has since gone into hiding in the wake of alleged death threat on him has rebuffed Jammeh’s claims as nonsense.
Also, Jammeh has called ECOWAS’s placing of troops on alert a declaration of war just as the African Union last week said it would not recognise Jammeh as Gambia’s president after Jan. 19. He described the AU’s stance as irresponsible and malicious and only meant to annoy and aggravate the political situation in The Gambia. The most recent mediation mission on Friday failed and the outgoing president is getting increasingly isolated on the African continent.
BBC/Reuters
