Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Senegalese
troops backed by other African forces
were poised to enter The Gambia
Thursday after President Yahya Jammeh
refused to leave office, ignoring a
midnight deadline to stand down or face
military action.


Jammeh's army chief said his troops
would not fight their entry into the
country, as the Mauritanian president flew
out of The Gambia following hopes of a
last-minute deal to convince Jammeh to
hand over power.


"We are not going to involve ourselves
militarily. This is a political dispute,"
Chief of Defence Staff Ousman Badjie
said after eating dinner in a tourist
district close to the capital Banjul,
eyewitnesses told AFP.


"I am not going to involve my soldiers in
a stupid fight. I love my men," he added.
"If they (Senegalese) come in, we are here
like this," Badjie said, making a hands up
or surrender gesture.


Jammeh's mandate ended at midnight
(local and GMT) but he has steadfastly
refused to leave office after losing
elections last month to Adama Barrow,
prompting west African states to ramp up
pressure on the president following weeks
of failed diplomacy.


Nigeria sent troops and fighter jets to
Senegal, whose own forces massed on the
Gambian border.


Witnesses said the situation was calm in
Banjul overnight, although troops had
been deployed in the city.


The UN Security Council is scheduled to
meet Thursday to adopt a statement on
West Africa that will reaffirm the demand
for Jammeh to hand over power,
diplomats said.


"If a political solution fails, we will
engage" in operations in The Gambia,
Senegal army spokesman Colonel Abdou
Ndiaye told AFP ahead of the deadline.


Unsuccessful attempts by the 15-nation
Economic Community Of West African
States (ECOWAS) led Mauritanian
President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to fly
into Banjul at the 11th hour for a final
round of talks.


Following the discussions he was hopeful
of reaching a peaceful solution, he was
quoted as saying by Gambian state
broadcaster GRTS.


Mauritania is not part of ECOWAS and
diplomats have previously reached out to
the conservative desert nation in hopes of
brokering an asylum deal with Jammeh.
Shortly before midnight Aziz's plane
landed in Dakar, where he was met by
Barrow -- who is currently sheltering there
-- and Senegal's President Macky Sall, the
private Senegalese radio station RFM
reported.


Senegal has also requested UN backing
for regional action against the long-time
president. However, a vote on the draft
resolution has yet to be scheduled,
according to diplomats.


- State of emergency -
Barrow and his team maintain his
inauguration will go ahead on Thursday
on Gambian soil, and his spokesman said
late Wednesday "we do not feel any
threat" from Senegalese troops on the
ground.


However, the inauguration's head
organiser James Gomez said plans for the
transfer of power in a huge stadium
outside the capital were now cancelled.


The 51-year-old Gambian leader
announced a state of emergency on
Tuesday, saying it was necessary because
of interference from foreign powers in the
country's December 1 election, but the
declaration has had little effect on
attempts to remove him.


The country's vice-president Isatou Njie-
Saidy resigned Wednesday, family sources
said, along with the environment and
higher education ministers, in the latest of
a string of cabinet members deserting
Jammeh's government.


- Tourists flee -
As tensions rose, Britain and the
Netherlands issued travel advisory
warnings, with around 1,000 British
tourists expected to leave on special
flights on Wednesday alone, leaving the
small airport near Banjul struggling to
cope.


Brian and Yvonne Souch, from Witney in
southern England, told AFP they were
unaware of the potential risk of flying to
the country 10 days ago and felt tour
company Thomas Cook should have kept
them better informed.


"We didn't know anything until we came
down for breakfast," Souch said, sitting in
shorts and sleeveless T-shirt in the lobby
of a hotel in the Kololi tourist strip as he
awaited a bus to the airport.


Thomas Cook said additional flights into
Banjul airport would bring home 1,000
package holidaymakers, followed by up
2,500 more at the "earliest possible flight
availability".


But holidaymakers were told that Thomas
Cook flights would cease in a few days
time, leaving them at risk of being
stranded.


The panic caused by the state of
emergency could prove financially
devastating -- experts say up to 20
percent of the economy relies on tourism.
Gambians were taking precautions and
stocking up on food and supplies in the
few shops that remained open in districts
near the capital, with roads quiet and
street hawkers notably absent.


A source told AFP that patients at
Banjul's Edward Francis Small Teaching
Hospital, which sits opposite Jammeh's
seat of power, were removed for security
reasons. Only those in intensive care
remained.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/african-troops-standby-end-gambia-crisis-191043529.html

They say those the gods wants to kill they first make mad. That's Yahya Jammeh's current situation