In a press statement issued on Saturday, the 15-member Council called on outgoing President Yahya Jammeh “to respect the choice of the sovereign people of Gambia, as he did on 2 December, and to transfer, without condition and undue delay, power to the President-elect,  Adama Barrow.”

The Council also urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint, refrain from violence and remain calm, and requested that the security of President-elect Barrow and that of all Gambians be fully ensured.

Further in the statement, Security Council members also called on the support by the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWAS) and international partners, especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to preserve stability in the west African country and work towards the installation of a democratically elected Government in the country.

The Council members also commended the Gambian people for the peaceful and transparent conduct of elections on 1 December and expressed their commitment to continue to closely follow the evolution of the situation in the country.

They further called on outgoing President Jammeh to respect the ECOWAS protocol on democracy and good governance and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, notably the rejection of unconstitutional changes of Government, and recalled the relevant provisions of Article 23 (4) of the African Union (AU) Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

UN Photo/Kim Haughton (file)