Banjul- Gambian President Yahya Jammeh
said he would not step down and condemned mediation by West
African regional bloc Ecowas that aims to get him to leave power
after he lost a December 1 election to challenger Adama Barrow.
The comments on state television late on Tuesday were a
hardening of the veteran president's position after days in
which hopes mounted he could be persuaded to hand over power at
the end of his mandate on January 18, when Barrow is due to be
inaugurated.
"I am not a coward. My right cannot be intimidated and
violated. This is my position. Nobody can deprive me of that
victory except the Almighty Allah," Jammeh said.
"Already the Ecowas meeting was a formality. Before they
came, they had already said Jammeh must step down. I will not
step down," he said.
Jammeh initially accepted the results of an election whose
outcome was seen across Africa as a moment of hope. He is
accused by human rights groups of the detention, torture and
killing of perceived opponents during his 22-year rule.
On December 9, he reversed his position and said he would
challenge in the country's Supreme Court the results of an
election he said was riddled with irregularities.