Embattled Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has annulled the just-concluded elections in his country, after rejecting the results which indicated his rival Adama Barrow had won with over 20,000 votes.

The Gambian leader, who has been in power for 22 years, had since lodged a petition with the Supreme Court. However, without waiting for the case to be heard, he has made a quick turnaround, annulling the elections.

Jammeh’s unsurprising decision is contained in a lengthy communication titled: ‘Statement by President Jammeh on IEC error on election results’ issued by the President in his capacity as the Chairman of the ruling party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC).

According to Jammeh, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) made several ‘serious’ errors while conducting the December 1 elections among them swapping his votes to benefit the opposition, improper tallying and also denying his agents access to the polling centres.

‘On this note I want to make it very clear that in the same vein I accepted faithfully the results believing that the IEC was independent and honest and reliable, I hereby reject the results in totality. Let me repeat I will not accept the results based on what has happened during that week,’ Mr Jammeh wrote.

He added: ‘This is a serious anomaly which nobody will accept. Certain areas also especially in CRR our APRC Polling agents were refused entry and in some instances humiliated and kicked out of the voting area by the IEC officials from 8 o’clock in the morning until 1pm in the afternoon. This was the time interventions were made and then our agents were allowed’.

Meanwhile, according to Jammeh, the new date for elections is to be announced at an appropriate time when all requisite elections paraphernalia is in place. He also lambasted the IEC, saying it was impartial, and that the electoral body’s actions led to his defeat.

‘This being the case as I said I hereby announce to you Gambians my total rejection of the election results and thereby annulling the elections in its entirety until we go back to the polls because I want to make sure that every Gambian has voted under an independent electoral commission that is independent, neutral and free from foreign influence’ he wrote and warned against foreign intervention.

‘To the other team, we have seen what has been happening these days, but let me make it clear, the intervention of foreign powers in the country would not change anything. We know that plans were made and are being made for foreign troops to come because you have no confidence in the Gambian soldiers, children of the Gambia, employed and selected across the country.

I made one thing clear and I swore to the almighty Allah and the Quran that the Gambia cannot be colonized twice or enslaved twice and i swear this will not happen in a billion years,’ he added.

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Gunfire has erupted in several parts of Kinshasa early today as Democratic Republic of Congo’s long-serving President Joseph Kabila appeared set to stay on despite the expiry of his mandate today, and announced a new government.

Shots rang out in several parts of the sprawling city of 10 million, especially in two northern quarters after whistles – an opposition sign of protest – were heard in several areas.

Demonstrators blew whistles and beat on improvised drums, their gesture for a red card, asking the 45-year-old who has led the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2001 to quit the top job.

State television overnight announced the formation of a new government following an agreement between Kabila’s administration and a fringe opposition group.

The new cabinet will be led by Sami Badibanga, a defector from the party of the mainstream opposition party led by 84-year-old Etienne Tshisekedi.

Talks on a peaceful transition are in limbo, sparking fears of fresh violence in the unstable mineral-rich nation.

Kinshasa was a shadow of itself yesterday with barely any traffic on the main roads, public transport at a minimum, and soldiers and police outnumbering passers-by.

Shops were shuttered in the main square and there were tense scenes at Kinshasa University, where dozens of police and troops held back hundreds of angry students.

The UN rights office in Congo said 28 people were arrested in Kinshasa on Monday and 46 in the eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu.

Killings in volatile East 

In the volatile east, nine rebels, a South African peacekeeper, a Congolese soldier, a police officer and a civilian were killed when militia fighters attacked several buildings in Butembo, including the prison.

A supplier of minerals crucial for everyday items ranging from smartphones to lightbulbs — tantalum, tungsten, tin and coltan – the mineral trade in the east of the country has long been linked to armed groups and conflict.

Kabila, who has been in power for 15 years, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term but under a recent constitutional court order, he may stay on until a successor is chosen.

The ruling party and some opposition leaders have agreed to schedule an election in April 2018 at the earliest, leaving Kabila in office until the vote. But the main opposition bloc rejects this plan.

In Kinshasa, security forces cordoned off the university but students reached by telephone said they had been planning ‘to march peacefully’ to parliament to demand Kabila step down.

Security was also tight in the second city, Lubumbashi, in the southeast, with most shops closed and very little traffic on the roads.

Social networks have been cut or filtered since midnight Sunday on government orders and police at the weekend banned gatherings of more than 10 people.

‘Kabila won’t cave in’ 

In a last-ditch bid to achieve a peaceful transfer of power, the ruling party and fringe opposition groups held talks last week with the mainstream opposition led by Tshisekedi.

But after a week of mediation, they were suspended and due to resume on Wednesday.

A democratic handover would break new ground for DRC’s 70 million people who since independence from Belgium in 1960 have never witnessed a democratic transfer of power following polls.

The president has been in office since his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001. He was elected in 2006, and again in 2011, in a poll the opposition decried as rigged.

Tshisekedi’s opposition grouping has threatened to bring people onto the streets from Monday if the talks failed.

“I don’t see (Kabila) caving in to pressure,” his diplomatic advisor Bin Karubi said on Monday.

Some two decades ago, DRC sunk into the deadliest conflict in modern African history, its two wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s dragging in at least six African armies and leaving more than three million dead.

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President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia has recalled his representative in the United States after the latter endorsed the election of Adama Barrow.

Sheikh Omar Faye, who was appointed to the top job in June 2015, is the first Gambian diplomat to openly recognise Adama Barrow, who was declared winner of the December 1 disputed presidential election.

His boss, President Yahya Jammeh who has governed the Gambia since July 1994, is disputing the election results and has petitioned the country’s Supreme Court to declare them null and void.

Commenting on his sudden sacking, Mr Faye wrote on his Facebook page: “I would like to inform my friends, colleagues, and all Gambians that I have been recalled for home service. I will handover in line with Foreign Service Regulations (FSR). At the same time, I hope and pray H.E President Yahya Jammeh will likewise handover to President Elect Adama Barrow and respect the will of the people of The Gambia and the constitution.”

While thanking Mr Jammeh for giving him the opportunity to serve as Gambia’s representative in the United States of America, he called on Gambian officials including civil servants and military personnel to protect the security, peace and prosperity of the country.

“We should all work together to ensure that the peace our beloved country is known for is not compromised. The Gambian people, its history, and above all God, the Almighty will judge us.  Let us all side with justice and the will of our people,” he added.

“On 19th January 2017 God willing, Mr. Adama Barrow will become the third President of the Republic of the Gambia and we all should rally behind him for the benefit of our beloved country. We should all forget personal ambitions and strive towards maintaining the peace and social cohesion of our beloved country.

“As a former military officer, I was taught loyalty to country first. I hope the armed and security forces will uphold the will of the Gambian people made on 1st December 2016. The current Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), Lieutenant General Ousman Bargie , the Deputy-Chief of Defense Staff General Yankuba Drammeh, and several  active and retired officers who served with me both in Yundum and Kudang camps can bear witness to the patriotism of our forces.

“I hope the Gambian Armed and Security Forces will do the right thing by standing with the People of The Gambia, maintain peace, and prevent any usurpation of power. They owe that to the people of the Gambia, to history, and to God, the Almighty.”

Ambassador Faye has held other senior government positions in the 22-year regime of Yahya Jammeh including minister of Youth, Sports, and Religious Affairs, deputy Chief of Mission in Mauritania and Chargé d’Affaires at the Gambian Embassy in Washington.

Prior to joining public service as a civilian, Ambassador Sheikh Omar Faye served in the Gambian military for 14 years, and retired in 1995 at the rank of major.

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