Jammeh and Family Finally Departs Gambia Presidential House

Embattled former Gambia President Yahya Jammeh has left the State House in company of his mother, wife Zainab, son Mohammed and President Alpha Conde.

He left the State House hours after announcing he was finally ceding power to his successor Adama Barrow.

The long-term Gambian strongman met with his close aides and some members of his party before he was driven out of the presidential compound for the last time.

He headed for the Cocoa Ocean Hotel outside the capital,  APAreports.

A Mauritanian aircraft has been stationed at the airport tarmac in Yundum to fly Mr. Jammeh and his immediate family into exile.

Their destination is Guinea where the former Gambian leader will take temporary refuge before deciding on a permanent country of exile.

The 51-year-old has been under national and international pressure to vacate the Gambian presidency following his dramatic U-turn from conceding last month’s elections to Real Estate businessman Adama Barrow.

His volte-face had plunged the country he had ruled since 1994 into political crisis as a combination of diplomacy and threat of the use of force by the West African regional grouping Ecowas was applied to force him to relinquish power.

After marathon negotiations involving Guinean leader Alpha Conde and Mauritanian President Ould Abdel Aziz which ended on Friday, Mr Jammeh announced in the early hours of Saturday that he was leaving the presidency.