FILE PHOTO - Gambia's President Al Hadji Yahya Jammeh attends the plenary session of the Africa-South America Summit on Margarita Island September 27, 2009. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana is sending 205 combat troops to Gambia for the regional mission aiming to deploy if President Yahya Jammeh does not step aside when his mandate ends at midnight, President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The objective is to create an enabling environment ... (to) facilitate the inauguration of the President-Elect, Adama Barrow, on Thursday, January 19, 2017,” Akufo-Addo said, referring to the winner of December’s election.

Nigeria and Senegal have also deployed soldiers to the force.