Knowing the nature of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders should have captured him and removed him from office at the first talks to persuade him to accept his electoral defeat, an elder statesman Captain Joel Sowu (retired) has said.
He explained: “In the first meeting with Yahya Jammeh, what the ECOWAS leaders should have done was to consult the national security services of ECOWAS and have a [backup] plan.
They should have had a snatch group ready in Gambia. So, at the first meeting with him [Jammeh], those people would just [abduct] the guy Rambo-style and get him out of the place and put him somewhere. That would have ended the issue.”
The ex-military officer of the Ghana Armed Forces was reacting to the political crisis in The Gambia on the Executive Breakfast Show on Class FM, Friday January 20.
West African leaders have given Yahya Jammeh a final opportunity to relinquish power after Senegalese troops entered The Gambia.
Mr Jammeh has been given until noon on Friday to leave office or be forced out by UN-backed regional forces.
Troops have been told to halt their advance until the deadline passes.
ECOWAS is acting in support of Adama Barrow, who was sworn in as the new Gambian president on Thursday.
Mr Sowu told host Moro Awudu that once Mr Jammeh is still holding on to power, there is some chance his people would fight back, hence getting him out at the initial meeting would have solved the issue.
“80 per cent of The Gambia’s forces are from his tribe and chances are that if the man is still in power and you try to go in with a military force they may fight back, but I don’t think so,” he added.
The ECOWAS troops sent to The Gambia comprise 205 military officers deployed from Ghana.
wWhile some individuals think it was a good initiative by President Nana Akufo-Addo to sanction the deployment, others think it was wrong.
However, Mr Sowu supported the decision of the Ghanaian president. For him, it would have appeared as disloyalty to ECOWAS had the country decided not to contribute troops to facilitate a decision that had already been agreed.
“Sending troops to Gambia, yes. I support that 100 per cent,” he stated.
He also suggested that based on the latest developments suggesting that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of The Gambia has pledged not to fight back, the next move is to get the presidential guard to stand down.
He expressed the view that the ECOWAS troops could just lay siege at the presidential palace without engaging in a gun battle and just wait till Mr Jammeh surrenders when he runs out of options. This way, he believe, there would be no lives lost.
“What remains now is to get the head of the military in The Gambia to speak to the officer in charge of the presidential guard of Jammeh and tell him that they do not want any Gambian to lose his or her life, therefore, they should ensure that Jammeh surrenders peacefully and create a passage for him (Jammeh) without any harm so that there will be no bloodshed in The Gambia,” he articulated.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.