Gambia Stolen Mandate, sustaining Democracy through Military Force

The ECOWAS Solution

The scenario playing out in Gambia should worry everyone in the African continent and around the world. The political turmoil in the small west African country of 1.8 million people might be heading towards dangerous turn if the situation is not handled properly. The internal and external involved actors have a great role to play to ensure that events do not turn out ugly for the loving “people” of Gambia. 

Any approach towards resolving the political crisis that does not take into account the humanitarian conditions that may occur as a result of any action taken may end up leaving a bad precedence, deaths and displacement of millions of innocent civilians. We are still awash of the horrific images of war and refugee crisis coming out of Syria and Libya and this should be a deterrent to any act of war or any plan that do not involve a political resolution to the situation in the Gambia.

To refresh our mind, on the 1^st of December 2016, a presidential election election was held in Gambia with an unprecedented outcome. Yahya Jammeh, the sitting president of 22 years lost to the opposition candidate Adama Barrow. Before the announcement of the final results, Jammeh graciously conceded defeat. Events took turn on the 9^th of December, Jammeh in an unexpected move announced he’s rejection of the election results, saying he had “decided to reject the outcome of the election due to serious and unacceptable abnormalities”. He called for new elections to be held free from external interference.

United nations, African Union, and ECOWAS have all condemned Jammeh actions and urged him to peacefully hand over power. ECOWAS has sent a delegations comprising of Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia President to persuade Jammeh to hand over power peacefully. None of their meetings was successful, now ECOWAS is planning to adopt a coercive use of troops to force Jammeh out of office. This they say is the last resort if he refuses to leave office peacefully. News are already filtering that Nigeria and Senegal are positioning their troops for invasion. Jammeh has also reinforced his defense, obtaining a 90 days tenure extension from the Gambia parliament and declaring 90 days state of emergency.

Back to the point, any electoral system marred by errors pose a threat to democracy and peaceful transition of power. African leaders have formed the habit of sit back syndrome when their mandate ends. This greedy taste for power should be decried as it has continued to plunge countries of the continent into political crisis again and again. The Cote de vour experience is still very fresh. Irrespective of the dire situation in the Gambia now, safety of civilian lives and property should be of utmost importance for all involved actors.

Creating crisis is not difficult but resolving it always becomes a big problem. The world expects Jammeh to hand over power peacefully but as he chooses to hang on. A military force should not be the final solution as been planned by ECOWAS. If any lessons can be learnt from the revolution in Egypt, Libya and Syria, it is that democracy does not come by power of gun powder. Democracy can only be achieved through diplomacy. Diplomatic channel should be kept open in Gambia until Jammeh is pressurized to hand over power. This will help avoid inviting anarchy and war on the innocent people of Gambia. If Obama's Legacy as US president is one thing, it is that sanctions can be effective, and there are no winners in wars.