Johannesburg – The Gambia's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chief has fled the country and gone into hiding. Alieu Momar Njai, who announced former president Yahya Jammeh's defeat in the polls last month, has escaped from the country, his son Momodou told the BBC on Wednesday afternoon.
This follows Jammeh's refusal to accept the results of the December 1 presidential elections which saw real estate developer Adama Barrow win the elections – deemed free and fair by the country's electoral commission – by more than 45 percent of the vote. Following the elections Jammeh initially conceded defeat.
However, he subsequently alleged they were rigged and initiated legal action. Diplomatic efforts to persuade Jammeh to step down have proved fruitless and the authorities continue to crack down on the media, closing down three private stations since Sunday.
Jammeh came to power in a military coup in 1994. In further developments, the Freedom Newspaper, a Gambian online newspaper, alleges that the former president is currently housing rebels from the Southern Province of Casamance and elsewhere across the West African sub-region, in preparation for a possible military showdown with the proposed Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) force recently formed to help unseat him from power.
The rebels have been deployed in various security facilities across the country, especially at the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) base in Kanifing. They have also been issued with army uniforms, combat gear, and weapons.
The Freedom Newspaper further alleged that on Tuesday, General Saul Badjie, the Commander of the Republic Guards, and a close confidant of Jammeh, had distributed over 1,733 uniforms to the arriving rebels.
A top security chief, close to the Gambian dictator, said that Jammeh was determined to wage war in this country before his inevitable fall.
The rebels, who have also been referred to as mercenaries, apparently speak French and other local West African languages, but little English.
There has been no comment from the capital Banjul on the situation on the ground and efforts by the African News Agency (ANA) to get comment from the Gambian Embassy were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.