ECOWAS troops halt Gambia invasion as Jammeh is given fresh deadline

West African armies late Thursday halted an operation in Gambia aimed at installing the country’s new president, Adama Barrow. The decision is to enable regional leaders make one last attempt to convince longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh to step aside.

Barrow took the oath of office on Thursday at Gambia’s embassy in Senegal, calling for international support from West Africa’s ECOWAS bloc, the AU and the UN.

A regional military force launched an intervention effort, dubbed Operation Restore Democracy, shortly after the former opposition figure was sworn in.

“We think that up until the last minute there is still a solution through dialogue,” said Marcel de Souza, head of the ECOWAS commission, explaining the decision to suspend the advance to reporters in Dakar late on Thursday.

During his inauguration speech Barrow appealed to ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations for support for his government and Gambia’s people.