Jammeh arrives at Banjul airport after stepping down

Gambia's Yahya Jammeh arrived at Banjul airport on Saturday evening in the company of mediator Alpha Conde, the leader of Guinea, in what is seen as ceding of power to Adama Barrow, witnesses said.

Mediators said Jammeh was likely headed into exile.

Jammeh took power in 1994 and agreed to stepped down on Saturday in the face of pressure from west African armies that entered the country to force him out of power.

Earlier on Saturday, after marathon talks with Alpha Conde and Mauritania's Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Jammeh accepted to hand over power peacefully to The Gambia's new President Adama Barrow, who is waiting in neighbouring Senegal for the strongman of 22 years to leave.

AFP journalists at Banjul airport saw a Mauritanian plane standing by on the runway.

Top officials said it was preparing to take Jammeh to the Guinean capital Conakry — though by the early evening there was still no sign of the veteran leader.

"Yahya Jammeh prefers, for the moment, to come to Guinea, to stay in Conakry, before he decides, along with the Guinean authorities, where to move for good," Guinean state minister Kiridi Bangoura said.

An official from regional bloc Ecowas — which backed a threat of military intervention before Jammeh yielded and announced he would step down — said "one or two villas" had been prepared for him in Conakry.

The agreement that finally saw the strongman give in to pressure to step down "foresees the departure of Yahya Jammeh from The Gambia for an African country with guarantees for himself, his family and his relatives", Abdel Aziz said on return to Nouakchott in remarks quoted by the official AMI news agency.

Activists will be keen to see Jammeh — who controlled certain sections of the security forces — refused amnesty for crimes committed during his tenure, which was rife with rights abuses.

Diplomats had also mentioned Morocco, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania as possible places of exile for Jammeh.