By AFPMore by this AuthorCONAKRYIn pushing Yahya Jammeh to give up The Gambia's presidency, negotiators played on two key cards: his deep Muslim faith and his professed love of country. Tibou Kamara, a former government minister from Guinea, went early in the crisis to convince Jammeh to leave after 22 years in power in favour of Adama Barrow, who won the ballot. Kamara had approval to negotiate from Jammeh's wife, whose younger sister is married to a former president of Guinea. "We appealed to his faith," Kamara said, adding that Jammeh himself often said that "everything that happens to a man is God's will. The former Gambia president had also made a point of keeping his country out of the many conflicts that have ravaged West Africa.

Source: Daily Nation January 28, 2017 04:37 UTC