Gambia’s Foreign Minister Neneh Macdouall Gaye, has jumped ship, with sources indicating she is headed to the United States of America.
Media sources indicate Ms Neneh, who was supposed to be attending a conference in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the latest official to abandon Jammeh after the Gambia’s former Ambassador to the US Sheikh Omar Faye.
A good number of Gambia’s foreign mission officials have resigned from the government and have since rallied their support behind President-elect Adama Barrow, the sources add. Diplomatic missions fall under the purview of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which Ms Neneh is heading. She cannot effectively and efficiently operate in the absence of a functional Foreign Ministry. Hence, she decided to quit her job while on a foreign mission.
Media sources also indicate that there is a planned mass exodus of other Jammeh officials, who are planning to flee from the West African nation.
“I have just gathered from a very reliable source in the Gambian mission in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that Foreign Minister, Neneh Macdoull Gaye, has abandoned Yahya Jammeh’s sinking boat. Madam Gaye, is currently in Jeddah to attend a meeting. She used the meeting to travel out of The Gambia. Her destination is the United States,” the media quoted a source
Ms. Neneh Macdouall Gaye, used to live in Atlanta, Georgia, before accepting a job appointment from Jammeh. She was hired shortly before the December 30, 2014, failed coup.
Sheikh Omar Faye, the recalled Gambian Ambassador to the US, was very instrumental in convincing Ms. Macdouall to accept Jammeh’s job offer. Mr. Faye, visited Neneh at her Atlanta home, where the news of her appointment as Foreign Minister, was communicated to her.
She is a holder of a US Permanent Resident status otherwise known as (Green Card). Neneh’s departure from the Jammeh regime, will no doubt weaken his quest to cling onto power.
Sources close to Ms Neneh said the Minister has off late been complaining about the stress associated with her job, at some point contemplating quitting her job. She felt that Jammeh’s behavior towards her was becoming unbearable, sources intimated.
It was not long ago that Neneh was in the United States to visit her kids. Her husband Pa Gaye, the former MD of Gamtel, recently returned home from the US, to reunite with Mrs. Gaye.
