GAMBIA’S EXILED STRONGMAN Yahya Jammeh plundered millions of dollars in his final weeks in power leaving state coffers “empty”, an aide to the new President said.

An aide to President Adama Barrow made the statement as West African troops prepared to secure his arrival.

Jammeh flew out of The Gambia on Saturday, ending 22 years at the helm of the small west African nation, and headed for Equatorial Guinea where he is expected to settle with his family.

A West African military force entered The Gambia yesterday – greeted by cheers from relieved residents – to provide security and allow Barrow, who has been in neighbouring Senegal for more than a week, to return and take power.

But amid growing controversy over the assurances offered to Jammeh to guarantee his departure, Barrow aide Mai Fatty said the new administration had discovered that some $11 million (€10.25 million) had recently been stolen.

“The coffers are largely empty,” he told reporters in the Sengalese capital Dakar.

“Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi (€10.25 million) were withdrawn” by Jammeh, he said.

As we take over, the government of The Gambia is in financial distress.

Following Barrow’s win in the 1 December election, Jammeh refused to step down, triggering weeks of uncertainty that almost ended in a full military intervention.

Gambia's new president Adama Barrow talks during an interview with The Associated Press. AP Photo AP Photo

Jammeh slunk off in the early hours of yesterday on an unmarked plane. Barrow is eager to return “as soon as possible”, Mai Fatty said, warning however, that “the state of security in The Gambia is still fragile”.

Yesterday “additional forces crossed into The Gambia to beef up the numbers already on the ground,” Barrow said, according to a statement read out by Mai Fatty.

The new administration wants the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) forces to stay on. “We want their mandate to be extended,” Mai Fatty said, adding that Barrow was waiting for assurances of loyalty from the security forces, including the police and the army.

Gambian soldiers object to having their picture taken as they leave a ferry that also brought back people returning to the city in Banjul, Gambia. AP Photo / Jerome Delay AP Photo / Jerome Delay / Jerome Delay

Jammeh personally controlled certain sections of the security forces, and his long tenure was marked by systematic rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detention.

© – AFP 2017

Read: Gambians fear another U-turn after leader promises to step down again

Read: Irish people told to avoid Gambia as West Africa troops prepare to move in