Gambia: Government suspends employees accused of crimes under Jammeh regime

Around former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh gravitated people now accused of crimes during the former regime.

AFP PHOTO / SEYLLOU

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

This may be the beginning of a change in The Gambia.

The victims had been waiting for several months for the government to act and implement the recommendations of the reconciliation and truth commission which investigated the crimes of the Yahya Jammeh era.

Earlier this week, the government ordered the work suspension of those accused of crimes.

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If the announcement was welcomed by activists, it does not resolve the question of the fate of the former president, still in exile in Equatorial Guinea.

And the suspension of employees accused of crimes under Jammeh's era will take effect in a few days.

There is no official list, but among those suspended are several members of the military, police and the director of operations of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Personalities who would have played a key role in the repression under the former dictator.

Their suspension is one of the recommendations of a commission of inquiry, and for lawyer and activist Reed Brody, it represents a " 

 " on the part of the government to obtain justice for the 250 people who died between the hands of the state and its agents.

A first step but which leaves the fate of Yahya Jammeh in suspense.

The former dictator is still in exile in Equatorial Guinea.

And despite a promise from authorities to have him tried in The Gambia, no mention of his extradition was raised during a state visit by Adama Barrow to Malabo last month.

Gambian activists accuse the Equatorial Guinean president of protecting the former autocrat.

In order to put pressure on Malabo, Reed Brody is urging The Gambia to establish a special tribunal to try the ex-president and to seek support from neighboring countries like Ghana, also a victim of Jammeh's atrocities.

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• Gambia

• Yahya Jammeh