DAKAR, Senegal (AP) —  West African officials say Gambia's defeated President Yahya Jammeh must cede power by noon Friday or he will be dislodged by a regional force that has already moved into the country.

Marcel Alain de Souza, chairman of the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, said early Friday that if Jammeh refuses to leave Gambia by midday the regional force will force him out.

A West African regional force including tanks moved into Gambia Thursday evening after the inauguration of Adama Barrow as the country's new president and the U.N. Security Council voted to approve the military intervention by the regional troops. Barrow, who won Gambia's presidential election in December, was sworn into office at the Gambian embassy in neighboring Senegal, where he was for his safety.