Sidi Moro Sanneh, a former Foreign Affairs Minister of the Gambia has welcomed the use of force to oust his past boss, Yahya Jammeh.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) troops are on standby to forcefully remove Mr Jammeh if necessary.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”0khIL1K3rj95Uc6sigFXLrXPj2H6vQ9z”]ECOWAS had said military intervention would be the last resort should.<\/p>\n
Mr.Sanneh, who was also Gambia\u2019s Ambassador to Senegal until 2006, told Citi News<\/strong> Mr. Jammeh still had time, up until the swearing-in, to give up power.<\/p>\n He, however, welcomed the use of force if all efforts to \u201ctalk sense\u201d into Jammeh fail.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the ECOWAS resolution passed in Abuja advised member states to use all options. Military option will be the last resort\u2026the ECOWAS has done all they could, using all other means outside of military force up to this point\u2026\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n He held the view another day with Jammeh in power will be disrespectful to the people of the Gambia, stressing that, \u201cthe will of the people must prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we move for Yahya\u00a0Jammeh to stay in power, regardless of the fact that he has lost an election, the implications\u00a0are great and it goes beyond The Gambia. And it doesn\u2019t 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\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n According to Mr. Sanneh, he is not surprised at Yaya Jammeh\u2019s obstinate stance against persuasions for him to step down, \u201cbecause Mr. Jammeh is highly unpredictable\u201d.<\/p>\n He is, however, looking forward to \u201ca new Gambia\u201d with the \u201crelegation of every aspect of dictatorial institutions that were set up in the dictatorial regime of Jammeh.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis 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,\u201d\u00a0Mr. Sanneh said.<\/p>\n –
\nBy: Eugenia Tenkorang\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @eugeniatenkoran<\/a>
\n