Jammeh’s victims left in doubt after new Gambia alliance
Details of what exactly is in the agreement between Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) and the president’s National People’s Party have not been made public
A new political alliance announced in Gambia between the party of ex-President Yahya Jammeh and the governing party has thrown into doubt whether some of the former ruler’s victims will get justice.
The long-serving leader was defeated by Adama Barrow in the last election and fled the country in January 2017 after a month-long stand-off.
Testimony about what happened during his 22-year rule – heard at the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) – has revealed stories of extreme violence, torture, arbitrary arrest and murder.
Details of what exactly is in the agreement between Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) and the president’s National People’s Party have not been made public.
But the AFP news agency quotes the APRC secretary general, Fabakary Tombong Jatta, as saying that the objective “is for former President Jammeh to return to this country peacefully and in dignity”.
The alliance comes three months before the next presidential election.
The journalist Omar Wally told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that some of those who testified at the TRRC have been left wondering whether anything will come of that process.
“It is very wrong and unjust, especially for the victims,” one man in the capital, Banjul, said.
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