Adama Barrow greets supporters while campaiging ahead of the election, Talinding, Gambia, November 29, 2016.
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Jammeh is expected to head for Malabo but it is unclear if he will stay in that country.
Within hours, Senegalese troops in armoured vehicles rolled across the border into Gambia as part of an internationally supported West African offensive to enforce democracy and hasten the dictator’s departure. Mauritania’s president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, and Guinea’s Alpha Condé, as well as the UN’s regional chief, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, made a final attempt to persuade Jammeh to go without a fight.
Jammeh spent hours with Guinea and Mauritania’s presidents on Friday in Banjul, where agreement was reached that he would hand power to Adama Barrow, the declared victor of elections last month.
Mr Jammeh’s term expired at midnight on Wednesday – but, while still president, he engineered a parliamentary vote to extend his presidency.
Coalition soldiers patrol the main street of Karang, Senegal, near the border with The Gambia.
Jammeh has been described as mercurial, unpredictable.
“We are hoping that there is a peaceful resolution to this, but it is very clear that if President Barrow asks for assistance, then that is something that, as the legitimate president of Gambia, he is perfectly entitled to do”, said British Deputy Ambassador Peter Wilson.
Still, Jammeh resisted, prompting an estimated 45,000 Gambians to flee the country to Senegal out of fear of violence. Among them were some of Jammeh’s former cabinet members who severed ties with him after he refused to concede the December election.
“The interests of the Gambian people must be put above everything else”.
Hundreds of foreign tourists, who flock to Gambia’s hotel-dotted coastline, were evacuated this week.
Mr Jammeh led Gambia, continental Africa’s smallest nation, since a coup in 1994.
The Council also requested the Gambian defence and security forces to demonstrate “maximum restraint” to maintain an atmosphere of calm in country, and stressed “their duty and obligation to place themselves at the disposal of the democratically elected authorities”.
Barrow said he will return to his homeland after the outgoing president leaves and once a security sweep has been completed. “Anyone with firearms tonight shall be deemed a rebel, and will certainly become a legitimate target”.
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The crisis was a test for regional bloc ECOWAS, not least because Jammeh held office longer than any other current president in the grouping of states.
