DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A military commander with West Africa's regional bloc says its forces will "take action" at midnight unless a solution is found to Gambia's political crisis before then.

Speaking on Senegalese radio station RFM, Seydou Maiga Mboro declared that "all the troops are already in place" awaiting the deadline for President Yahya Jammeh to step down.

Witnesses in Senegal have reported seeing troops making their way toward Gambia's borders.

Jammeh has refused to cede power after 22 years at the helm despite losing the Dec. 1 election to Adama Barrow.

The president-elect has vowed to go ahead with his inauguration anyway on Thursday, and ECOWAS, the regional bloc, has vowed to use military force if necessary to remove him.

Jammeh seized power of Gambia in a 1994 coup