Gambian president Yahya Jammeh has cancelled his trip to attend the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Athough there have been no official reasons for the cancellation, the president was quoted by sources close to the State House, as saying he 'was being relentlessly pursued by witches'.

The Gambian president in early last year led a violent campaign against defenceless citizens he had accused of practicing witchcraft and voodoo to bring down his government. The campaign did not even spare the aunt of the country's inspector general of police Ensa Badjie.

International right groups including Amnesty International, condemned the expeditions as grossly inhumane and a violation of human rights.

And not much unlike the cancellations of his previous trips to Paris and Abuja only five months ago, president Jammeh was reported to have cancelled his Addis Ababa trip shortly after arrival at the airport, which is about ten miles outside the capital, Banjul.

Inspite of the numerous traditional public announcements on the national radio and television that preceded his journey to the airport to depart for Ethiopia, the president disecretly journeyed back to the State House without police sirens.

According to our correspondent in Banjul, the president's abrupt return to the State House was more likely to be linked to security issues than the 'tales of witchcraft'. "And do not be surprised if heads roll in the military just as it did happen only a few months ago", he adds.

Former army chief Gen Lang Tombong Tamba and four other top officers were arrested after president Jammeh cancelled his trip to attend a UNESCO conference in Paris.