Jammeh bars UN from fielding missions prior to December elections

Jammeh at the United Nations

The Gambian dictator has issued instructions to the country's Independent Electoral Commission and Ministry of Interior officials not to "entertain" any United Nations missions connected with the upcoming elections.

It is unclear whether the directive extends beyond the pre-election to include the December 1st presidential elections monitoring activities of U.N. African Union and ECOWAS among other organizations.

It is being reported that an African Union fact finding mission is experiencing difficulty getting clearance fro the government which is consistent with the information reaching us that Jammeh will not tolerate any contact of government officials, especially members of the IEC and United Nations officials.  The same restriction applies to other continental and regional organizations according to our sources.

To bar the international community from fielding pre-election  missions can only add to the uncertainty surrounding the elections, further affecting the ability to conduct a free and fair elections with less than 40 days to go before the December presidential elections.