The Gambia 'missing millions' after Jammeh flies into exile

Gambia's exiled strongman Yahya Jammeh plundered millions of dollars in his final weeks in power leaving state funds "empty", an aide to new President Adama Barrow said 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.

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 had recently been stolen.

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

"Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi ($11 million) were withdrawn" by Jammeh, he said.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.

Jammeh left the country in the early hours of Sunday on an unmarked plane. Luxury cars and other items were seen being loaded on to a Chadian cargo plane on the night Jammeh left the country, the BBC reported.

Fatty said officials at The Gambia's main airport had been told not to let any of Jammeh's belongings leave the country.

Barrow is eager to return "as soon as possible", Fatty added, warning however, that "the state of security in The Gambia is still fragile."

On Sunday, "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.