Yahya Jammeh, the former Gambian president, has left the country after he finally agreed to step down following 22 years of rule. Jammeh and his family headed into political exile on Saturday night, ending a 22-year reign of fear and a post-election political standoff that threatened to provoke a regional military intervention when he clung to power. As he mounted the stairs to the plane, he turned to the crowd, kissed his Qur’an and waved one last time to supporters, including soldiers who cried at his departure. The flight came almost 24 hours after Jammeh announced on state television he was ceding power to the newly inaugurated Adama Barrow, in response to mounting international pressure calling for his departure. Though tens of thousands of Gambians had fled the country during his rule, Jammeh supporters flocked to the airport to see him walk the red carpet to his plane. Jammeh landed in Guinea an hour later and members of his family emerged from the plane, though the country might not be his final destination.
The authoritarian leader took power in a 1994 coup – but stepped down in the face of pressure from west African armies that entered Gambia to force him to recognise that he lost an election in December to Barrow.
The Guinean president, Alpha Condé, and the UN’s regional chief, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, had remained in the capital and a regional force was positioned in the country, ready to move in if Jammeh changed his mind and refused to cede power.
Jammeh’s departure heralds the first democratic transition of power the Gambia has seen. Jammeh initially accepted defeat but later rejected the election result and declared a national state of emergency in an attempt to cling to power. The streets were deserted in the small administrative capital that surrounds the presidential residence, where vultures amassed in the grounds. But nearby towns, Bakau and Serrekunda, were coming back to life.
Full Article: Yahya Jammeh leaves the Gambia after 22 years of rule | World news | The Guardian.