By John Ikani
Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) on Thursday recommended that the Government prosecute a list of officials responsible for crimes committed under former dictator, Yahya Jammeh, including the ex-leader himself.
Rights groups have long pushed for prosecutions for the litany of alleged crimes, such as the use of death squads and rape, committed during Jammeh’s time in office, which ended in 2017.
The TRRC set up to probe the allegations, handed President Adama Barrow its final report on Thursday and recommended that the Government pursue criminal charges.
The 14,000-page document handed by the TRRC to President Adama Barrow, nine days before a Presidential election in which the exiled Jammeh has urged his supporters to vote for an opposition coalition.
In all, 240-250 people died at the hands of the state or its agents, the commission said. It recommended that the “persons who bear the greatest responsibility for abuses” be prosecuted, but did not name anyone.
“To forgive and forget with impunity the violations and abuses … would not only undermine reconciliation but would also constitute a massive and egregious cover-up of the crimes committed,” the TRRC said in a statement.
The findings of the truth panel come after more than two years of hearings into Jammeh-era crimes.
Witnesses gave chilling evidence about state-sanctioned torture, death squads, rape and witch hunts, often at the hands of the “Junglers”, as Jammeh’s death squads were known.
The TRRC has not been empowered to prosecute those responsible for crimes, and the contents of its report will not immediately be made public.
Barrow is expected to release a white paper within six months on how to implement its recommendations.
Addressing a news conference in the capital Banjul, the President promised to deliver the white paper on time and assured victims that “justice will be done”.
