Jammeh crimes: Gambia report recommends prosecution

Investigators with Gambia's Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission delivered a final report to the president Thursday in Banjul, identifying and recommending for prosecution those most responsible for crimes and human rights abuses committed during the 22-year rule of former President Yahya Jammeh.

Upon receiving the report, President Adama Barrow promised that "justice will be done."

He has six months to release a paper on how to implement the recommendations submitted by the commission.

Following his election in 2016, Barrow vowed to right the wrongs of the past, especially widespread abuses under previous leader Jammeh.

The commission was mandated to establish an impartial historical record of abuses committed from July 1994 to January 2017, when Jammeh fled into exile after losing elections.

More than two years of hearings that led to this report attempted to unearth and record the human rights abuses and horrors that occurred in the shadow of Jammeh's rule.

Its submission comes just before Gambia’s 2 million people are set to vote in presidential elections on December 4, in which Barrow is running for re-election against five other candidates.

After submitting the report, Commission chair Lamin J. Sise said that “the individuals involved in perpetrating the violations and abuses must be held accountable for their crimes” and their names are “mentioned expressly in the relevant sections of the report.”

He added the commission found the abuses resulted in the deaths of “240 to 250 Gambians and non-Gambians in the hands of (the) state or its agents.”

Sise did not mention the names of those who the commission has recommended for prosecution, however, there is little doubt that Jammeh is among those named, according to experts.

Sheriff Kijera, head of the Gambia Victims Center welcomed the report, adding families and victims expect justice and reparation.

The commission that was set up years ago is not meant to prosecute, but only to hold hearings that outline the crimes and recommend prosecution. The report, however, will not be made immediately public.

Jammeh, who seized power in 1994 in a bloodless coup, was voted out of office in 2016 after opposition parties created a coalition with Barrow as the main candidate.

After initially agreeing to step down, he resisted and a six-week crisis saw West African military forces ready to stage a military intervention.

Jammeh was forced into exile and fled to Equatorial Guinea aboard a plane with his family and many belongings.

The 56-year-old still garners a lot of support in the tiny West African nation, despite the abuses that took place under his rule.

IMAGE: AP