Despite worries over their continuing presence, Gambia's president, Adama Barrow, has explained why troops from the Economic Community of West African States () have stayed in the country.
Mr. Barrow addressed at a news conference at the State House in Banjul, the Gambian capital, on Tuesday afternoon.
On Sunday evening, the president was proclaimed the winner of Saturday's presidential election.
Mr. Barrow, who ran under the National People's Party (NPP) banner, received 457, 519 votes to defeat his nearest challenger, Ousainou Darboe of the United Democratic Party (UDP), who received 238, 253 votes.
In 2016, Mr. Barrow beat dictator Yahya Jammeh to become the country's third president, but Mr. Jammeh refused to hand up control.
In the midst of the constitutional crisis triggered by the disputed presidential election, the Economic Community of West African States Mission in the Gambia (ECOMIG) was activated.
In January 2017, Mr. Barrow was sworn in as the president of Gambia.
The ECOWAS group would eventually agree to prolong the mission after Mr. Barrow requested that the mission, which cleared the path for his ascension to power, be extended for another year, citing the presence of ECOWAS soldiers in the nation as a stabilizing presence.
However, several Gambians have expressed worry over the ECOWAS forces' continuing presence since 2017.
'Beyond Jammeh' is a mandate that extends beyond Jammeh.
Mr. Barrow said on Tuesday that the ECOWAS Mission in the nation is widely misunderstood by the public and that the mandate extends beyond Mr. Jammeh's ouster.
"I believe the people in this nation misunderstand the mission of ECOWAS," he remarked. The ECOWAS isn't simply there to remove Yahya Jammeh. No. You know, when I first arrived, our security sector was quite contaminated, and we needed to handle it and reform it.
"One of those changes was the necessity for a backup force to assist us. Training is also a part of such changes. We are now training the majority of the state guards outside. We still haven't gotten the State House number we requested. We are still constrained. We've always spoken about shrinking as part of our reforms; they think we should use rightsizing instead of downsizing. We needed to audit as part of the rightsizing process, and this is the first time we've audited the security sector.
"As part of the process, we must profile, and this is the first time we are profiling." As we profile, we move on to rightsizing, and as we do so, we'll require a backup force to do all of these tasks. All of this is happening at the same time. It's not simple to accomplish these goals. I couldn't believe we still don't have a security policy after fifty years. In this country, there was no security plan and no military policy. It's all ready to go now. There are procedures to adhere to."
Mr. Barrow highlighted that the processes take time, which is why the ECOWAS troops are still in the nation.
"We required backup forces," Mr. Barrow explained, "and this isn't the only nation with foreign soldiers."
"It's occurred in a lot of nations." They stayed in Liberia for twelve years. In a lot of other places...Guinea Bissau."
Mr. Barrow further clarified that, contrary to popular belief, the country "is not paying excessively for the mission's ongoing presence."
"These are ECOWAS soldiers, and the Gambia isn't even paying for them." They've come to help us. It's like when you're working on your farm and someone comes up to you and says, 'I'd like to assist you on your farm for free,' and you still grumble," he stated.
