West African forces that entered Gambia as part of an operation to force the country's veteran leader Yahya Jammeh to step aside will wait for mediation talks to finish before resuming their advance, a Senegalese presidential source said on Friday.

Guinea's President Alpha Conde and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz have headed to Gambia to urge Jammeh to quit peacefully after he lost an election.

"So long as Conde and Aziz are there we will not resume hostilities," the source said.

Regional body ECOWAS had previously set noon as a deadline for Jammeh to leave power.

READ ALSO:

• West African leaders hold crisis talks as Gambia leader’s mandate ends
• UN says 45,000 flee Gambia amid political turmoil