West African leaders have given Yahya Jammeh a final
opportunity to relinquish power after Senegalese troops
entered The Gambia.
Mr Jammeh has been given until noon on Friday to
leave office or be forced out by UN-backed regional
forces.
Troops have been told to halt their advance until the
deadline passes.
The Economic Community of West African States
(Ecowas) is acting in support of Adama Barrow, who
was sworn in as the new Gambian president on
Thursday.
His legitimacy as president, after winning last month's
election, has been recognised internationally.
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Last-ditch mediation talks, led by Guinea's President
Alpha Conde, are due on Friday morning.
Chairman of the Ecowas commission, Marcel Alain de
Souza, said that if the meeting with Mr Conde proved
unsuccessful, militarily action would follow.
"If by midday, he [Mr Jammeh] doesn't agree to leave
The Gambia under the banner of President Conde, we
really will intervene militarily," he said.
Ecowas said that its forces had encountered no
resistance after entering The Gambia on Thursday.
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Troops from Senegal and other West African countries
crossed into The Gambia after an initial deadline for Mr
Jammeh to stand down passed without his resignation.
Mr Barrow, who remains in Senegal, has said that he
will not return to Gambia's capital, Banjul, until the
military operation had ended.
The threat by the West African regional bloc Ecowas to
remove Mr Jammeh by force is supported by the 15-
member UN Security Council, although the council has
stressed that a political solution should be the priority.
A Senegalese army spokesman, Col Abdou Ndiaye, told
the BBC that troops who were now in The Gambia
were prepared to fight if necessary.
"It is already war, if we find any resistance, we will
fight it," he said, adding: "If there are people who are
fighting for the former president, we will fight them."
But Col Ndiaye said the main goal of Ecowas was to
restore democracy and to allow the newly-elected
president to take power.
In his inaugural speech at the Gambian embassy in
Senegal's capital, Dakar, President Barrow ordered all
members of The Gambia's armed forces to remain in
their barracks.
Any found illegally bearing arms would be considered
"rebels", he said.
Why is Mr Jammeh refusing to go?
After first accepting defeat he reversed his position
and said he would not step down. He declared a 90-day
state of emergency, blaming irregularities in the
electoral process.
The electoral commission accepted that some of its
early results had contained errors but said they would
not have affected Mr Barrow's win.
Mr Jammeh has said he will stay in office until new
elections are held.
Remaining in power would also give him protection
against prosecution for alleged abuses committed
during his rule.
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