According to Elombah reports, the Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh landed in the capital of Chad on Tuesday in an aircraft bearing Gambia’s national colours, a Reuters witness said, the first recorded sighting of the leader since gunfire erupted around the presidential palace in Banjul overnight.
Local diplomats and media said Jammeh was abroad, either in France or Dubai, when the violence broke out, said a Reuters report.
The government in Gambia has denied reports of an attempted coup. Further details of Jammeh’s flight schedule could not immediately be obtained.
Heavy gunfire near the presidential palace in Gambia on Tuesday had raised fears of a coup, residents said.
Elombah reports that while the fighting appeared to be over by midday, witnesses said soldiers had been dispatched to the airport and state media complex. Vehicles were barred from Banjul, the capital, and government radio returned to the air after going silent amid the unrest.
Kalidu Bayo, head of the civil service, said in a statement: “Contrary to rumours being circulated, peace and calm continue to prevail in the Gambia.”
President Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in the west African nation in a 1994 coup when he was 29 years old, had left Banjul for France on Saturday, state media reported.
During his campaign for the last election in 2011, Mr Jammeh, whose official title is “His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Doctor”, vowed that only God, and not a vote or a coup, could loosen his grip on power.
Soldiers linked to his presidential guard were believed to have been involved in the fighting, said witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Amid a blackout on state radio and television, Louis Gomez, deputy director of the National Intelligence Agency, refused to comment on reports of a coup attempt.
Human rights activists have long accused Mr Jammeh’s regime of repressive conduct, charging that it targets political dissidents, journalists, gays and lesbians.
Mr Jammeh has previously threatened to behead sexual minorities in his country. The US government has removed Gambia from a trade agreement in response to human rights abuses, including a law signed in October punishes some homosexual acts with life imprisonment.
In 2007 Mr Jammeh also drew criticism after he insisted that HIV-positive patients stop taking their antiretroviral medications because he could cure them with a herbal body rub and bananas.
Gambia President Yahya Jammeh landed in the capital of Chad on Tuesday in an aircraft bearing Gambia’s national colours, a Reuters witness said, the first recorded sighting of the leader since gunfire erupted around the presidential palace in Banjul overnight.
Local diplomats and media said Jammeh was abroad, either in France or Dubai, when the violence broke out, said a Reuters report.
The government in Gambia has denied reports of an attempted coup. Further details of Jammeh’s flight schedule could not immediately be obtained.
Heavy gunfire near the presidential palace in Gambia on Tuesday had raised fears of a coup, residents said.
While the fighting appeared to be over by midday, witnesses said soldiers had been dispatched to the airport and state media complex. Vehicles were barred from Banjul, the capital, and government radio returned to the air after going silent amid the unrest.
Kalidu Bayo, head of the civil service, said in a statement: “Contrary to rumours being circulated, peace and calm continue to prevail in the Gambia.”
President Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in the west African nation in a 1994 coup when he was 29 years old, had left Banjul for France on Saturday, state media reported.
During his campaign for the last election in 2011, Mr Jammeh, whose official title is “His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Doctor”, vowed that only God, and not a vote or a coup, could loosen his grip on power.
Soldiers linked to his presidential guard were believed to have been involved in the fighting, said witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Amid a blackout on state radio and television, Louis Gomez, deputy director of the National Intelligence Agency, refused to comment on reports of a coup attempt.
Human rights activists have long accused Mr Jammeh’s regime of repressive conduct, charging that it targets political dissidents, journalists, gays and lesbians.
Mr Jammeh has previously threatened to behead sexual minorities in his country. The US government has removed Gambia from a trade agreement in response to human rights abuses, including a law signed in October punishes some homosexual acts with life imprisonment.
In 2007 Mr Jammeh also drew criticism after he insisted that HIV-positive patients stop taking their antiretroviral medications because he could cure them with a herbal body rub and bananas. (Credit: Elombah)