[REUTERS] Gambia... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain...
's former leader Yahya Jammeh on Saturday flew into exile in Equatorial Guinea after stepping down under pressure from West African nations to accept that he lost a December election to President Adama Barrow, mediators said.
His exit ends rising tension as thousands of troops from Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
and Nigeria who entered the tiny country on Thursday were poised to swoop on the capital Banjul. It also paves the way for the return home of Barrow, who was sworn in as leader at the Gambian embassy in Senegal on Thursday.
Jammeh took power in a coup in 1994, and his government is accused of torturing and killing perceived opponents. There were few celebrations in Banjul as news of his departure spread, but some people said they felt relief after years of fear.
"The rule of fear has been banished from Gambia for good," Barrow told a crowd at a Dakar hotel on Friday, once it became clear a deal had been struck for Jammeh to relinquish power.
"To all of you forced by political circumstances to flee our country, you now have the liberty to return home," said Barrow, 51, who worked as a property developer and led an opposition coalition few thought would win the Dec. 1 vote.
The initiative to force Jammeh out will likely be viewed as a triumph for African diplomacy and could set a precedent in a region where democracy advocates have spent decades pressing for fair elections and an end to authoritarian regimes.
Jammeh's security forces offered no resistance to soldiers from West African bloc ECOWAS. Around 4,000 troops are still there and some will remain to ensure security, said Marcel de Souza, head of the ECOWAS commission.
The crisis was a test for the bloc, not least because Jammeh had held office longer than any other current president in the grouping of 15 states.
"If something like that (not accepting poll results) happens in the same way in another ECOWAS country, it will be the same treatment," de Souza told a news conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar.