Benin's Talon lauds Ouattara on his role to lift Gambia from impasse

Benin’s President Patrice Talon, was in Abidjan on Wednesday, where he said he hopes to join Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara in Banjul on January 19 for the inauguration of the Gambian president-elect Adama Barrow.

Talon lauded his Ivorian counterpart on the role he is playing to see through a peaceful transition in Gambia.

And in a televised statement on Tuesday night, Yayah Jammeh denounced what he termed as “foreign interference” in his country but called for a peaceful settlement of the electoral dispute.

Mr. Jammeh made the statement just a few hours after the Supreme Court adjourned and ruled it impossible to preside over a petition case against his electoral defeat, saying that it lacked the constitutionally required quorum.

“We have acknowledged President Jammeh’s latest statement in The Gambia, which reassures us that we’re going to emerge from the crisis as a region. I will accompany Mr Outtara to Banjul come January 19th and this crisis will be behind us,” Talon said.

The 11 heads of states of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS had met in Nigeria in December, where they discussed a series of measures they would take to get Gambia out of the political impasse.