SUMMARY
ECOWAS involvement in the Gambia crisis through its early prevention tactics, prevented the Gambia from experiencing a Civil War due to the refusal of Jammeh to step down after losing the December 1 election. ECOWAS early intervention in the Gambia crisis with the use of both the threat of war and preventive diplomacy strategies is seen as a major success for the organization as this helped preserve democracy and stability in Gambia. The atmosphere after Jammeh rejected the Gambia's presidential result was tensed; especially after the deployment of military troops to the street of Banjul, the capital on December 10, many Gambians and other people mostly the international 55 media feared for the worse. It was reported that thousands of Gambians fled to the neighboring countries, mostly to Senegal, the next-door neighbor, while some mostly women and children fled from the capital leaving behind their homes and properties, to the rural areas, in anticipation of the disruption of law and order. Yayha Jammeh's administration since his transition into a democratic leader in 1996 when he won his first presidential election, has been known for putting down any opposition to his rule. Some reporters who were strong critics of his government has being reported to have disappeared, and their corpses found sometimes. Opposition members have also been tortured, for example Solo Sandang, the opposition youth leader, was tortured to death by the armed forces after his arrest. Jammeh also uses unlawful arrests to suppress his opposition like the arrest of opposition members for staging protest in early 2016. Therefore, he was not expected to peacefully give up his presidential seat without some force being applied, the people feared that war was inevitable. Peaceful transfer of power especially from African leaders who has spent quite a number of years in office is almost impossible, as they employ any means necessary to keep their position, ranging from rigging election result, to preventing the conduct of election, to engaging indirect warfare. These leaders do anything to keep their spot as the president; therefore Gambia has never experienced change of government through election since she gained independence. Dawda Jawara was in power since Gambia gained independence in 1965 to 1994 when he was removed from office 56 through coup d’état while Jammeh who had spent twenty-two years in power since he overthrew Jawara in the 1994 military coup in an interview with BBC was quoted saying he will rule Gambia for a billion years; therefore, it was not expected that someone who made such a bold statement on an international television station will step down quietly and peacefully.
