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Former
President Yaya Jammeh the Gambia's leader for 22 years, looks through the
window from the plane as he leaves the country on 21 January 2017 in Banjul
airport ©STRINGER (AFP)
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Equatorial Guinea
confirmed on Tuesday it was hosting ousted Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, who
fled his country after West African troops threatened to remove him by force if
he did not concede his election defeat.
Reuters
report continues:
Information
Minister Eugenio Nse Obiang confirmed that Jammeh was in the country in a
statement sent out to journalists. He gave no further details.
Jammeh
plunged Gambia into turmoil in December when he refused to accept losing to
Adama Barrow, demanding a new poll.
But
the former soldier finally relinquished power on Saturday under strong
diplomatic pressure backed up by several thousand West African troops who
crossed into Gambia and were poised to enforce the election result.
Many
Gambians are angry that Jammeh fled into what they assume to be a luxurious
exile rather than face trial for alleged human rights abuses.
Gambia's
parliament on Tuesday revoked a state of emergency that Jammeh had imposed last
week before he fled, as the tiny West African country slowly recovered from its
political crisis.
"The
National Assembly hereby resolved ... to approve the revocation of the
declaration of the state of public emergency," said majority leader
Fabakary Tombong Jatta of the unanimous vote.
Barrow
has not yet returned to Gambia from neighbouring Senegal, where he took the
oath of office on Thursday. He is due back in Gambia's capital Banjul in the
coming days.
The turmoil prompted some 76,000 people to flee to Senegal. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said about 8,000 had returned home and more were expected to follow.
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