Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz flew to Senegal early Thursday for a meeting with President Macky Sall after last-minute efforts to get Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh to peacefully step down failed, Reuters reports.
In a December election, Jammeh was defeated by real estate developer Adama Barrow, but a week after conceding, he changed his mind. With the support of other leaders in the region, Senegal's president has threatened to invade Gambia in order to forcefully remove Jammeh, who has ruled for more than two decades and once said he would preside over Gambia for "a billion years." Barrow was supposed to be sworn in on Thursday at the national stadium, but a spokesman said the ceremony will now take place at an undisclosed location. As a precaution, tourists have been evacuated from the Gambian capital, Banjul.