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Can ECOWAS Tactics in Gambia Serve As Model?

by Salem Solomon

   Using a combination of diplomacy and muscle, the Economic Community of
   West African States (ECOWAS) forced longtime Gambian President Yahya
   Jammeh to cede power this month to challenger Adama Barrow, who won the
   nation's general election.

   Neighboring Senegal amassed troops and threatened to remove Jammeh by
   force. Regional powerhouse Nigeria threatened to help. The presidents
   of Mauritania and Guinea conducted shuttle diplomacy between Gambia's
   capital of Banjul and Senegal, where Barrow had fled. Jammeh finally
   agreed to go into exile on January 20.
   Despite the successful outcome, some question the wisdom of ECOWAS
   intervening on behalf of the people of the Gambia.

   Ezekiel Gebissa, a professor of history and African studies at
   Kettering University in Michigan, said that the military intervention
   is not something that should be replicated elsewhere.

   "If the reason for the intervention by ECOWAS in the Gambia is to save
   democracy and restore constitutional rule, then I think [it] would be
   counterproductive because a democracy that is imposed from outside by
   using military force cannot be an enduring democracy," he said.
   Sadiq Ibrahim, a member of the ECOWAS parliament and a lawmaker in
   Nigeria's National Assembly, said that although the regional body must
   respect the sovereignty of each member nation, there are exceptions
   that demand direct action.

   "If we have a situation that can threaten the security of a member
   nation and the entire region, the ECOWAS can collectively intervene to
   ensure peace in that country," he said.

   Senegalese soldiers check a motorcyclist at the entrance of the State
   House compound in Banjul, Gambia, Jan. 24, 2017. ECOWAS troops have
   moved into the State House to prepare for the return of President Adama
   Barrow.

   Gambia was 'peculiar situation'

   This was not the first time ECOWAS has intervened in the affairs of one
   of its member states. In 1990, the military intervention known as
   ECOMOG led largely by Nigeria helped end the Liberian civil war.
   Another ECOWAS intervention took place in Mali in 2013 where soldiers
   from ECOWAS countries worked in collaboration with French and other
   African forces.

   ECOWAS used Article 58 of its revised treaty relating to regional
   security to justify the intervention, according to Nigerian legal
   expert Barrister Hassan Liman. Liman said the law stipulates that
   member states must work to safeguard and consolidate relations to
   maintain peace, stability and security within the region.

   He added that the article does not give ECOWAS the right to use force
   to oust a leader. "The peculiar situation we have in Gambia is that
   there was a peaceful election and the president lost but refused to
   concede defeat. Obviously in this case the regional force can act to
   ensure regional peace," he said.
   Liman said that Africa's continental body, the African Union, could
   look to follow the example of ECOWAS as it tries to resolve crises in
   Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and in South Sudan.
   Political analyst Abdurrahman Abu Hamisu said ECOWAS also has an
   economic incentive to prevent instability in one of its member nations.
   "The expenses ECOWAS would have incurred if the crisis had erupted in
   Gambia could have outweighed what has been spent in this intervention
   effort," he said.
   J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center, said
   ECOWAS has signaled for years that it would intervene in a case such as
   this, so its actions should come as no surprise.
   "There is an agreement within ECOWAS, the acknowledgment that elections
   stand and if you lose elections you leave," Pham said on VOA's Press
   Conference USA.
   Pham added that there is another lesson to be learned from the Barrow
   side's tactics. Aides to the newly elected president began talking
   about prosecuting Jammeh's inner circle right after the election, when
   it was clear Barrow had won and Jammeh had lost.
   But such talk may have unintentionally derailed a peaceful transition
   of power, Pham suggested. "That scared Mr. Jammeh and his people and
   they rethought the wisdom of giving up power because they thought that
   meant consequences [for them]," he said. "I'm not arguing for impunity,
   but perhaps that conversation should have been saved for a later
   moment."