“We have Entered Gambia” - Col. Abdou Ndiaye

Senegal announced that its troops entered Gambia on Thursday in a bid to force the West African country’s longtime ruler to step down following an election loss, hours after the successor chosen by voters last month took the oath of office from exile in the Senegalese capital.

“We have entered Gambia,” Senegalese army Col. Abdou Ndiaye wrote in a text message to the Reuters news agency. There were no other immediate details of the reported incursion. Videos of camouflaged Senegalese tanks and Humvees driving toward the Gambian border circulated on social media.

By evening, the troops had not yet appeared in Banjul, the Gambian capital, according to residents, but news of their deployment had spread. Gambians poured into the streets in support of the Senegalese forces and President Yahya Jammeh's ouster.