Whee! Barrow is President! …UN Pledges Military Support, Bids Jammeh Goodbye

All 15 members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council today endorsed Adama Barrow as the new President of The Gambia.

According to reports, the council members unanimously adopted Resolution 2337, 2017 on situation in The Gambia.

The Ambassadors of France, UK and Senegal on the Security Council also briefed UN Correspondents, saying that should Barrow request for military assistance to enable him function as President, he shall be legitimately granted.

The resolution called on former President Yahya Jammeh “to carry out a peaceful and orderly transition process,’’ and transfer power to Barrow in accordance with the Gambian constitution.

The UN resolution called for support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) “in its commitment to ensure the respect of the will of the people as expressed in the results of the December 1, 2016 elections’’.

Barrow is the 3rd President of The Gambia.

He was sworn in as President of The Gambia at a ceremony in the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, today, having won the presidential election of December 1, 2016.

After the adoption of the resolution, the council declared that “former President Yahya Jammeh is out”.

“I just made a call to The Gambia’s President Adama Barrow to tell him that the Security Council is behind him and support him as the president,” said The President of the Council, Olof Skoog (Sweden).

He added, “The Security Council affirmed support to President Barrow. The Resolution adopted just now is political.

“There is a strong request to former President Yahya Jammeh to carry out peaceful transfer of power to President Barrow.

“The Council resolved that the will of the people of the Gambia, as expressed on December 1, must be fully respected. That is the message of the UN Security Council.

“The Council urged all parties to exercise restraints. Jammeh is now out.

“The Security Council is now behind ECOWAS; stands behind the efforts of ECOWAS to resolve the issue.

“The Council is following the events in The Gambia closely.

“The Security Council has directed the Secretary-General to report to the Council within the next 10 days.

“We know as we speak, political efforts are still ongoing to resolve the crisis peacefully.”

He said that the Council wanted the political crisis to be resolved as bloodlessly as possible and would have preferred a peaceful resolution, if Jammeh would heed the call.

Members of the Security Council, who contributed to the debate of the Resolution, were from China, Japan, Russia, U.S., Senegal, among others.

They all affirmed their support to the Resolution and expressed concerns on the consequences of Jammeh’s action on the civilians in the country, the sub-region and the region, as a whole.

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