An aircraft carrying the chairperson  of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)  Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been denied access to Gambia's Banjul airport, Senegal's foreign minister said on independent radio on Saturday.

The denial comes just as Gambia President Yahya Jammeh disputes the outcome of an election he lost on Dec. 1.

 The reason for the denial was unclear, as was the intended timing of the plane landing, but ECOWAS had been hoping to play a role in creating a smooth transition of power in the Gambia. (Reporting by Diadie Ba, writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Louise Heavens)

President Yahya Jammeh on Friday  surprised the world by refusing the electoral result after he had already accepted  that he had lost elections to the relatively unknown Adama Barrow .

By:Fiifi Abdul Malik