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.
“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.
The advance will resume at noon (1200 GMT) on Friday if Jammeh still refused to leave, he said. Barrow will return to Gambia once the operation is over.
The decision is to enable regional leaders make one last attempt to convince longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh to step aside.
“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.
The advance will resume at noon (1200 GMT) on Friday if Jammeh still refused to leave, he said. Barrow will return to Gambia once the operation is over.