The United Nations Security Council is set to vote later Thursday on a Senegalese draft resolution that would back efforts by West African regional bloc ECOWAS to ensure Gambian President Yahya Jammeh hands over power to his successor, diplomats said.
Senegal has deployed hundreds of soldiers to its shared border with Gambia, and Nigeria has pre-positioned war planes and helicopters after ECOWAS said it would remove Jammeh if he did not hand over power to challenger Adama Barrow, who won an election in early December.
The draft United Nations resolution would express the Security Council’s “full support to ECOWAS in its commitment to ensure the respect of the will of the people of Gambia as expressed in the results of 1st December elections.”
Diplomats said the 15-member council was likely to adopt the draft resolution with broad support.
The draft text asks Jammeh to hand over power and “calls upon the countries in the region and the relevant regional organisation to cooperate with President Barrow in his efforts to realize the transition of power.”
It also asks “the Gambian defence and security forces to demonstrate maximum restraint to maintain an atmosphere of calm in Gambia and stresses their duty and obligation to place themselves at the disposal of the democratically elected authorities.”
Both ECOWAS and the African Union have said they will recognize Barrow as president from Thursday.
Adama Barrow has tweeted that he is to be sworn in as president in The Gambian embassy in the Senegalese capital Dakar at 16:00 local time (16:00 GMT).
Earlier reports had suggested he would be inaugurated at a location in The Gambia.
It follows the failure of last-ditch negotiations to persuade defeated President Yahya Jammeh to step down.
A deadline has now passed without Mr Jammeh leaving power.
A BBC correspondent in the capital, Banjul, says it is eerily quiet and everything has come to a standstill; people are staying indoors:
West African military forces are poised to move in to enforce the transfer of power.
Unconfirmed reports say troops from Senegal have already crossed the border to secure a number of towns, with the help of Gambian soldiers.
Mr Jammeh – who has been in power for more than two decades – disputes the election result.
