Our Troops Will Evacuate Ghanaians In Gambia If Necessary – Nitiwul

Government says the 205 soldiers deployed for the ECOWAS military operations in the Gambia, have also been tasked to evacuate Ghanaians if the situation gets out of hand.

President Nana Akufo-Addo on Wednesday approved the deployment of the troops to join the ECOWAS standby force, ready to oust Yahya Jammeh if the need arises. Mr. Jammeh has refused to step down despite losing an election and conceding defeat earlier.

Speaking to Citi News' Franklin Badu Jnr, Ghana's Minister-nominee for Defense, Dominic Nitiwul, said the combat operations involve the protection of the over 50,000 Ghanaians in the Gambia.

“All those things have been put in the operations of the Ghana Armed Forces as they are there; the combat operations, the mission operations and tactical operations have all been taken into consideration.

The average number of Ghanaians there is around 50,000 and all have been taken into consideration,” he noted.

Background
Mr. Jammeh had said there were irregularities in the election held on December  1 2016, and that some of his supporters were turned away from polling stations. He also complained about some errors made by the Electoral Commission.

The Commission accepted that, some of the results it initially published contained errors, but said Mr. Barrow had still won. Mr Jammeh has said he will stay in office until new elections are held.

Several efforts by ECOWAS and the AU to have Mr. Jammeh step down have proved futile. Barrow to be inaugurated in Senegal Meanwhile, President-elect, Adama Barrow, has announced that his inauguration will take place at the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal.

“I would like to inform you that the Inauguration Ceremony is going to take place at the Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal,” he announced on Twitter.

-Citifmonline