UN Official to Visit Gambia on January 14-15, Following Failed Coup

Special Representative for West Africa of UN Secretary General announced that a UN official will visit the country and meet with President Yahya Jammeh on January 14-15.

UNITED NATIONS, January 9 (Sputnik) – Following the third coup attempt in the Gambia, a UN official will visit the country and meet with President Yahya Jammeh on January 14-15, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the Special Representative for West Africa of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, has announced.

"I am planning to visit Banjul on 14-15 January and meet with President Jammeh. I will reiterate our firm condemnation of any attempt to seize power by unconstitutional means, and encourage the Gambian authorities to work with the support of international partners, to ensure the credibility of judicial procedures and the respect of human rights," Chambas told the UN Security Council Thursday.

According to the representative, there have been reports of arrests of family members of alleged coup plotters. Meanwhile on December 31, the UN Secretary General called for the establishment of a transparent investigation into the failed coup d'etat.

The coup attempt took place on December 30, when fighting erupted at the State House in Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, while president Jammeh was out of the country.

Jammeh seized power in the Gambia as a result of a military coup in 1994 and became president in 1996. He has since remained in power through elections that have been criticized by observers as being manipulated.

The December 30 coup attempt was the third in the Gambia in the past eight years.