Why President Buhari flew out of Banjul with Barrow on Friday, en route to Mali,

President Buhari arrives Bamako Mali to
attend 27th Africa-France Summit on 13th Jan 2017

(AFP)   President Muhammadu Buhari and other West African leaders, may have tactically taken Gambia’s president-elect, Adama Barrow into safety after a botched attempt to persuade President Yahya Jammeh to voluntarily cede power after he lost the 1 December election. Jammeh’s tenure ends 19 January. And both ECOWAS and the AU have said he would cease to be the leader of West Africa’s smallest country by 20 January.

President Buhari flew out of Banjul with Barrow on Friday, en route to Mali, for what was called crisis talks in hopes of ending the nation’s political impasse.

Breaking: ECOWAS 50th Ordinary session: Leaders urged Yahaya Jammeh to uphold result, guarantee safety of President-Elect

The ECOWAS Leaders has today urged Yahaya Jammeh to uphold result, guarantee safety of President-Elect.  They request AU and UN to support in endorsing the resolution of the Authority.

All heads of state will attend swearing-in ceremony, to express the will of Gambians

They ask the outgoing President of Gambia Yahaya Jammeh to accept outcome of elections. The Nigerian President Buhari will serve as mediator in Gambia. Ghanaian Mahama to serve as co-Chair,

UN’s Ban Ki-Moon, Spain’s PM To Attend AU Summit

United Nations' Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to be the special guest at the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. The assembly is to hold in Malabo, Equitorial Guinea from June 20 to 27 June.

A statement issued by the office of the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr Dlamini Zuma on Friday in Addis Ababa, added that Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy-Brey, is also attending.

It said that already the AU Commission Chairperson had arrived in Malabo on Thursday, ahead of the summit. The Summit is being hosted by the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, under the theme “Agriculture and Food Security”.

The statement noted that the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government would be preceded by a session of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee.

Addis Ababa In Fresh Effort To Rescue Abducted Chibock Girls

NAN reports that the AU has announced plans to engage the Federal Government and other stakeholders in a meeting, in a fresh move to rescue the more than 200 girls abducted by insurgents in Chibok, Borno.

The AU Special Envoy for Women, Peace and Security, Mrs Benita Diop, made the disclosure at the close of the Conference of Ministers of Social Development in Addis Ababa on Saturday.

Diop, who is to lead a delegation to Abuja on Monday, June 2, is to intimate the Federal Government on the “new approach’’ to rescue the girls, abducted on April 14.