Out-gone President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia has asked a shift in deadline of midday to 4pm to vacate office as ECOWAS soldiers close on him.

Government sources said the request was made when the leaders of Guinea and Mauritania arrived in the capital, Banjul, in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to get him to cede power.

 A regional military force that crossed the border in support of his democratically elected successor, Adama Barrow, was awaiting orders on Friday. Marcel Alain de Souza, chair of the west African union Ecowas, said troops would force Jammeh out if he refused to leave the country.