Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s ruling
party challenged his defeat in a Dec. 1 election at the Supreme Court on
Tuesday, December 13, 2016 as West African leaders failed to reach a
deal that would see him accept the result and end a deepening political
crisis.
Soldiers also seized the headquarters of
the national elections commission and sealed it off just hours before
the mediation delegation representing regional bloc ECOWAS touched down
in the tiny riverside nation.
Jammeh, who has ruled Gambia since
taking power in a 1994 coup and is accused of widespread rights abuses,
initially conceded defeat to his main challenger, Adama Barrow. But in a
dramatic about-face that drew international condemnation he then
rejected the poll results last Friday.
The legal petition filed by the Alliance
for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction now raises the prospect
that Barrow’s narrow victory, which was poised to end years of Jammeh’s
autocratic rule, may be overturned.
“The petition prays that it be
determined that the said Adama Barrow was not duly elected or returned
as president and that the said election was void,” read the text of the
document submitted to the court and seen by Reuters.
Ms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and President of ECOWAS,
in the company of Muhammad Buhari of Nigeria, Ernest bai Koroma of
Sierra Leone and John Mahama past president of Ghana met with outgoing
president Yahya Jammeh on Tuesday in the Gambia to try out of the crisis
and to reason the loser president who has flip-flopped a week after
having previously conceded defeat and call his challenger Adama Barrow
to congratulate him. | PresAfrik
Liberian President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, a Nobel peace laureate, led the ECOWAS delegation that also
included Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, Sierra Leone’s Ernest Bai Koroma
and Ghana’s John Mahama, who lost an election last week and conceded
defeat.
“It is not time for a deal. It is not
something that can happen in one day. It is something that we have to
work on,” Johnson Sirleaf said as the presidents prepared to leave
Gambia.
Regional leaders will discuss the crisis
at an ECOWAS summit in Nigeria on Saturday, she said, adding Jammeh had
given her assurances that peace and stability would be preserved.
But in an apparent sign that Jammeh was
further entrenching his position, security forces seized control of the
Independent Electoral Commission headquarters, which holds the original
poll records.
“The military came to my office and said
I am not to touch anything and told me to leave,” said commission
chairman Alieu Momarr Njai. “I am worried for my safety.”
Standoff
Barrow, who received the unified backing
of Gambia’s opposition in the election, has vowed to reverse Jammeh’s
most capricious decisions, including a recently announced withdrawal
from the International Criminal Court.
“I think everyone knows the issue here.
There is a standoff between the government and our side,” Barrow said
after meeting the regional heads of state.
If negotiations fail, diplomats say,
Gambia’s neighbours might consider removing him by force. Marcel de
Souza, head of the ECOWAS commission, told Radio France International on
Monday that sending troops was “a conceivable solution”.
Gambia’s president officially has 60
days to hand over power, but his move to challenge the result at the
Supreme Court – the legal channel for resolving poll disputes – could
put the international community in a difficult position.
Rights groups say Jammeh exerts strong
influence over the court, which has not held a session for a year and a
half. Legal experts believe that at least four new judges would need to
be hired to hear his petition.
With Gambian judges no longer willing to
serve on the Supreme Court, foreign judges have increasingly been
brought in to hear cases. The current chief justice is from Nigeria.
The role of Gambia’s army will now be
critical and the United States said on Monday some military officers had
sided with Jammeh.
Army Chief General Ousman Badjie had
previously called Barrow to pledge his allegiance, the latter’s
spokeswoman said. But Badjie’s support for the president-elect appeared
far less certain on Tuesday.
“I support the commander in chief, whoever it may be. I support the commander in chief Jammeh,” Badjie told Reuters.
Barrow, who has no official state security detail, said in an interview on Monday he was concerned for his own safety.
via Reuters
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