{"id":31419,"date":"2016-12-27T23:16:04","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T23:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/gambia-crisis-adama-barrow-urges-jammeh-to-quit\/"},"modified":"2016-12-27T23:16:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T23:16:00","slug":"gambia-crisis-adama-barrow-urges-jammeh-to-quit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/gambia-crisis-adama-barrow-urges-jammeh-to-quit\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambia crisis: Adama Barrow urges Jammeh to quit"},"content":{"rendered":"

{The Gambia’s President-elect Adama Barrow has called on long-serving ruler Yahya Jammeh to give up power peacefully, like former colonial power Britain did in 1965.}<\/p>\n

Mr Barrow, a property developer, said he did not want to lead a nation that was not at “peace with itself”.<\/p>\n

Mr Jammeh initially accepted defeat in the 1 December poll but then launched court action to annul the result.<\/p>\n

The Gambia has not had a smooth transfer of power since independence.<\/p>\n

Mr Jammeh has ruled the West African state since taking power in a bloodless coup in 1994.<\/p>\n

It is a popular tourist destination because of its beaches.<\/p>\n

The West African regional grouping Ecowas has warned it will send troops to oust Mr Jammeh if he refuses to step down when his term expires on 19 January.<\/p>\n

Mr Jammeh says the poll was marred by irregularities and has demanded a new election.<\/p>\n

{{‘Better example to our children’}}<\/p>\n

The electoral commission has rejected the allegation and Mr Barrow has said he will declare himself president on 19 January.<\/p>\n

In a message posted on social media, he urged “all peace-loving Gambians to advocate, pray and work for a peaceful transfer of executive power for the first time in our history since independence”.<\/p>\n

“If the colonialists could peacefully hand over executive powers in accordance with the dictates of the people of The Gambia, we, the citizens, should be able to show a better example to our children,” he added.<\/p>\n

The UN and Ecowas have urged Mr Jammeh to respect the will of the people and step down when his term ends.<\/p>\n

Last week, a senior Ecowas official said that neighbouring Senegal’s troops were ready to intervene if President Jammeh refused to hand over power.<\/p>\n

Mr Jammeh said he would not be intimidated, and Ecowas had no right to interfere in The Gambia’s affairs.<\/p>\n

During his 22-year rule, Mr Jammeh gained a reputation as a ruthless leader who crushed dissent in the tiny west African nation.<\/p>\n

{{According to the electoral commission’s final count:}}<\/p>\n

Mr Barrow won 222,708 votes (43.3%)<\/p>\n

President Jammeh took 208,487 (39.6%)<\/p>\n

A third-party candidate, Mama Kandeh, won 89,768 (17.1%)<\/p>\n

Results were revised by the electoral commission on 5 December, when it emerged that the ballots for one area had been added incorrectly.<\/p>\n

\"Adama<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{The Gambia’s President-elect Adama Barrow has called on long-serving ruler Yahya Jammeh to give up power peacefully, like former colonial power Britain did in 1965.} Mr Barrow, a property developer, said he did not want to lead a nation that was not at “peace with itself”. Mr Jammeh initially accepted defeat in the 1 December […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[100],"byline":[249],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-31419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-africa","byline-bbc"],"bylines":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"contributors":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31419"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=31419"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=31419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}