Mr. Jammeh failed to yield to last minute pressure from the President of Mauritania, Mohammed Abdel Ould Aziz to step down, after he refused to accept the December 1, 2016 election results.

Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) troops are on standby to forcefully remove Mr Jammeh if necessary.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0khIL1K3rj95Uc6sigFXLrXPj2H6vQ9z”]ECOWAS had said military intervention would be the last resort should.

Mr.Sanneh, who was also Gambia’s Ambassador to Senegal until 2006, told Citi News Mr. Jammeh still had time, up until the swearing-in, to give up power.

He, however, welcomed the use of force if all efforts to “talk sense” into Jammeh fail.

“I think the ECOWAS resolution passed in Abuja advised member states to use all options. Military option will be the last resort…the ECOWAS has done all they could, using all other means outside of military force up to this point…”, he said.

He held the view another day with Jammeh in power will be disrespectful to the people of the Gambia, stressing that, “the will of the people must prevail.”

“If we move for Yahya Jammeh to stay in power, regardless of the fact that he has lost an election, the implications are great and it goes beyond The Gambia. And it doesn’t mean anything anymore if we do not implement the will of the people. That is much more sacred to me than to use force to extract Jammeh from power”, he added.

According to Mr. Sanneh, he is not surprised at Yaya Jammeh’s obstinate stance against persuasions for him to step down, “because Mr. Jammeh is highly unpredictable”.

He is, however, looking forward to “a new Gambia” with the “relegation of every aspect of dictatorial institutions that were set up in the dictatorial regime of Jammeh.”

“This is a new dawn for the Gambia and we are going back to the tradition of democratic principles that Gambia was known for. We will signal to the rest of the international community that Gambia is back that we are opened for business and that we are ready to join the community of nations,” Mr. Sanneh said.

–
By: Eugenia Tenkorang/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @eugeniatenkoran

The post The Gambia ex-Foreign Affairs minister welcomes military intervention appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.