CRISIS IN GAMBIA: Ex-Gambia leader 'plundered' coffers

Gambia's exiled strongman Yahya Jammeh plundered millions of dollars in his final weeks in power leaving state coffers "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.

A West African military force entered The Gambia Sunday -- greeted by cheers from relieved residents -- to provide security and allow Barrow, who has been in neighbouring Senegal for more than a week, to return and take power.

But 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"Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi ($11 million) were withdrawn" by Jammeh, he said.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 December 1 election, Jammeh refused to step down, triggering weeks of uncertainty that almost ended in a full military intervention.

Jammeh slunk off in the early hours of Sunday on an unmarked plane. Barrow is eager to return "as soon as possible", Mai Fatty said, warning however, that "the state of security in The Gambia is still fragile."

The new administration wants the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) forces to stay on.

Jammeh personally controlled certain sections of the security forces, and his long tenure was marked by systematic rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detention.