Gambia’s tinpot dictator Jammeh leaves – allowed to keep ill gotten gains.

Seeing Guinean President Alpha Conde in Davos a few years back made me an instant fan. Forthright and honest, Conde has been doing a great deal to establish democracy and root out corruption in his homeland. This included putting all Government mineral right applications and awards online and thus transparently available for all. Over the past week Conde added to his democratic kudos by leading the charge to force corrupt Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to vacate his office after losing an election. This was no small task considering Jammeh has been ruling the country since a military coup in 1994 – and had no intention of vacating office. On the downside, Jammeh has been allowed to keep his ill gotten gains. The New York Times reports that he “rolled towards his flight into exile in his trademark Rolls Royce….with its custom headrests stitched with the honorific His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya AJJ Jammeh.” The plane was stuffed with lots more luxuries including another Rolls Royce and more cars. Jammeh is now ensconced in Equatorial Guinea whose President-for-life Obiang is Africa’s longest sitting leader (37 years and counting). – Alec Hogg

By Suwaibou Touray and Yinka Ibukun

(Bloomberg) – West African nations pledged to ensure that Yahya Jammeh keeps his assets and won’t be prosecuted or sanctioned after the former Gambian president relinquished power and left the country, bringing an end to a post-election standoff that sparked a military intervention.

The Economic Community of West African States said it would “prevent the seizure of assets and properties lawfully belonging to former President Jammeh or his family and those of his cabinet members,” guarantee his safety and security and let him return to Gambia when he chooses to do so. The joint statement by Ecowas, the African Union and the United Nations was published late Saturday on the UN website following Jammeh’s departure to Guinea.

File photo. Yahyah Jammeh, president of Gambia, speaks at the 64th annual United Nations General Assembly in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Hours after arriving in Guinea, Jammeh’s airplane flew onward to Equatorial Guinea, according to the news website Guineenews, which cited airport officials. Equatorial Guinea is a tiny oil-producing nation that’s led by Africa’s longest-serving ruler, Teodoro Obiang.

Jammeh relinquished power in a televised address early on Saturday after Guinean President Alpha Conde and Mauritanian leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz flew to the Gambian capital, Banjul, to persuade him to let the winner of last month’s presidential election take office. West African military forces entered the country the day before but halted their intervention outside Banjul to give time to the last-ditch mediation efforts.

Military Action

Pressure intensified on Jammeh after Adama Barrow, winner of the Dec. 1 election, took his oath of office in neighbouring Senegal on Thursday and the UN Security Council adopted a resolution giving “full support” to Ecowas to enforce the outcome of the vote. Jammeh surprised the nation of fewer than 2 million people by initially acknowledging his loss and changing his mind a week later, saying he objected to the results.

Barrow said Sunday on Twitter that he planned to return to Gambia “very soon.”

The regional states decided to take military action after Jammeh declared a 90-day state of emergency late Tuesday. Nigeria and Ghana sent men and fighter jets to Senegal, while a convoy of Senegalese soldiers rolled into Gambia on Friday.

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