Gambians including the country’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Ousman Badjie, took to the streets on Thursday in scenes of wild celebration after President Adama Barrow was inaugurated in neighbouring Senegal.

Young men shouted and sang while hanging out of cars, and children danced with their mothers on main roads near the capital, Banjul, where the long-serving leader Yahya Jammeh was believed to remain despite the expiry of his mandate and a military intervention that could remove him at any moment.

The chief of the Gambian army Ousman Badjie was spotted among the revellers in the area, after vowing on Wednesday night his men would not fight African troops approaching the capital.