The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has resolved to oust President Yahya Jammeh following his attempt to hold on to power after his defeat in the country’s general elections in December 2016.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WZIoLOtgk1gfLiHAZFE8DNcWv11bj4w3″]Already, Senegalese troops have been seen moving towards the Gambian border in a show of force to pressure President Jammeh to stand down. Nigeria has also sent an air force unit to Senegal in support of the possible intervention.

Although several mediation efforts have failed, Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah, has cautioned that all other possibilities be exhausted before military action is considered.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, he said, “I wouldn’t want to advise launching a military operation to push him out of the place. I would not want to use military measures and the military should be a last resort if that is possible. If we are just starting off saying just move in with an army and take him out and so on, it will involve the loss of lives so we should think about that.”

In Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah’s view, it is paramount that the loss of lives is avoided even if some other countries eventually commit to military action.

“You can intervene militarily, but I am saying that, you must on the balance of probability, be able to do that without loss of lives. If you can work that out with minimal loss of lives, fair enough,” he said.

Ghana should avoid military intervention

On the possible role Ghana could play in any intervention, Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah recounted that he had advised former President John Atta Mills to avoid any military involvement in a similar crisis in neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire which eventually led to the ousting of Laurent Gbagbo.

“During the Gbagbo crisis, we were in the same kind of situation and my advice to President Mills in those days was not to use force if he could achieve the same purpose without loss of lives,” he recounted.

But his caution to Ghana may have come too late, as President Akufo-Addo on Wednesday approved the deployment of 205 Ghanaian troops to support the ECOWAS mission in The Gambia, as a member of the regional bloc.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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