Johannesburg/Accra — Gambian President Adama Barrow returned from neighbouring Senegal to take office after his predecessor went into exile under a threat by West African leaders to remove him by force. Barrow touched down at 5pm local time at the airport in the capital, Banjul, on Thursday as thousands gathered for his arrival a week after his inauguration at the Gambian embassy in Senegal. This is "a proud day for Gambians and a day of freedom from the ruling of modern slavery", said Musa Sanneh, who awaited Barrow’s return at the airport amid dancing and the beating of drums. "The country has to be well developed now. If people are developed then the country will be different." West African soldiers deployed across Banjul to prepared for Barrow’s arrival a day after Yahya Jammeh agreed to go into exile in Equatorial Guinea, ending a standoff that began with a December 1 presidential election. Jammeh, who had ruled since a 1994 coup, initially acknowledged he lost the vote to Barr...
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