(DAKAR JAN 18) – Columns of Senegalese troops moved to the Gambian border on Wednesday, threatening military action against President Yahya Jammeh, who has refused to accept a December election defeat, military sources and residents of towns near the border said.

“We are heading towards there,” one military source in Dakar told Reuters. “We are very seriously preparing ourselves.”

 

Residents of the towns of Diouloulou and Ziguinchor in southern Senegal reported troop movements towards the Gambian frontier from midnight onwards.

“Since early morning there have been hundreds of Senegalese soldiers heading in trucks towards the border with The Gambia,” one source in Ziguinchor said.

(Reporting by Emma Farge and Diadie Ba; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: Reuters