Nearly a million Gambians are called to the polls on Saturday, December 4, for the most open presidential election in the history of the smallest country in mainland Africa.
Two candidates are favorites: on the one hand, the veteran Ousainou Darboe, 73, who heads the largest opposition party, the United Democratic Party (UDP), on the other Adama Barrow at the head of the National People's Party (NPP), 56, the outgoing president.
The latter had created a surprise, in December 2016, by beating Yahya Jammeh at the polls.
Gaining power, the autocrat had to flee the country in the face of the threat of West African military intervention.
Whimsical and paranoid dictator Yahya Jammeh ruled the country for 22 years with an iron fist, installing a regime of terror with his death squads.
Nicknamed “junglers”, the president's henchmen were responsible for silencing all opposition and were allegedly responsible for the torture, rape, enforced disappearances and assassinations of several hundred journalists and human rights defenders.
>> To read: The "protocol girls" or how the former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh abused women
Part of the veil that obscured the scale of these crimes has been lifted in recent years thanks to the work of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC).
Rejected twice, the submission of the final report to the government finally took place on November 25.
No prosecution initiated
The TRRC did not directly cite the names of those implicated or disclose the contents of the report, but issued a statement.
“In its report, the Commission identifies and recommends prosecution of those most responsible for gross human rights violations committed against both Gambians and non-Gambians between July 1994 and January 2017”, power of Yahya Jammeh.
One of the most tragic events of this period took place in 2005, when some 50 migrants to Europe were mistakenly mistaken for mercenaries.
After several days of torture, they are taken to a forest in the direction of Senegal and are massacred on “the order of Jammeh”, admitted a former “jungler”, during a hearing conducted by the TRRC.
For the moment, no prosecution has been initiated in The Gambia against those responsible for these crimes.
“The executioners still live among us”, summarizes with France 24 Nana-Jo Ndow, the daughter of an opponent who disappeared under Yahya Jammeh who militates within ANEKED, an NGO fighting against impunity in Africa.
“Whatever the outcome of the ballot on Saturday, the Gambian government now has less than a month to make the TRRC's recommendations public,” explains Sarah Sakho, France 24's special envoy to the capital Banjul.
“The victims of Yahya Jammeh's regime will finally know the names of those likely to be prosecuted”.
The time of justice
According to victims' associations, there is no doubt that the TRRC recommended bringing the former dictator, who lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea, to justice.
His fate was one of the major themes of the presidential campaign.
Very critical of the record of the outgoing president, Ousainou Darboe, historic opponent of the Jammeh regime, assured that the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be implemented.
“We fought against impunity in this country.
We cannot now have recommendations from a credible institution, such as the TRRC, and then drag our feet not to implement them ”.
President Barrow also pledged “justice will be done”.
“I reassure you all that, in six months, we will produce a white paper” on the recommendations, he said when the report was handed over.
>> To (re) see the interview of France 24 with Adama Barrow: "I am not an accidental president"
But apprehension is mounting among some members of civil society.
The outgoing president had already promised in 2017 that human rights violations committed during the dictatorship would be prosecuted.
"We had hoped that the election of Barrow would be a turning point, but he was not at all interested in the victims and never visited them", indignant with France 24 Fatoumata Sandeng, whose father, Solo UDP official Sandeng was beaten to death in 2016 by the intelligence services for staging peaceful protests for electoral reform.
The recent political agreement between Adama Barrow and a wing of Yahya Jammeh's former party has also caused turmoil.
Would secret negotiations be underway to amnesty the former dictator and organize his return in a process of national reconciliation?
“Barrow talks about reconciliation and healing, but the victims will not heal if justice is not served.
Today, they feel abandoned ”, estimates Fatoumata Sandeng.
“We know that we are not yet at the end of our sentences.
The fight is not over, ”says Nana-Jo N'Dow.
The shadow of Yahya Jammeh
For many civil society actors, bringing legal proceedings against those responsible for the atrocities committed under the former regime would send a strong signal in favor of democratic transition. But the outgoing president is walking on eggshells. Yahya Jammeh still has many supporters in the country who reject outright the accusations against their champion.
“We have the impression that on the political level, there is no will to draw a line on the past and draw lessons from it to strengthen the rule of law”, notes the Beninese political scientist Gilles Yabi, joined by France 24. The founder of the Think Tank Wathi recalls that the front made up of deputies close to President Adama Barrow and Yahya Jammeh blocked, last year, the project for a new constitution in the National Assembly. “This lack of constitutional revision has been a great disappointment for many civil society actors. This gave a worrying signal about the renewal of political practices in The Gambia ”.
Certain actions seem indeed to die hard.
In July 2020, activist Madi Jobarteh was arrested for spreading “false information”.
“This is a law of the old regime which has still not been abolished,” recalls Nana-Jo N'Dow.
“The government claims to be engaged in the democratic transition, but certain laws contrary to human rights are still in force,” she denounces.
Despite these difficulties in overcoming the dark years of the Jammeh era, The Gambia can claim to have made real progress in the area of human rights.
“The TRRC report is already a real step forward,” admits Fatoumata Sandeng.
“In addition, people are much more free to express themselves on social networks”.
“It is necessary to underline the atmosphere of freedom which reigns in Gambia”, adds Gilles Yabi, according to which this presidential poll, open and uncertain, will constitute the next great democratic test for the Gambia.
“If the quality of the electoral process is guaranteed, it will already be a huge step forward for the country”.
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