BANJUL, Gambia — Documenting wide-ranging atrocities beneath the autocratic former president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, an investigative panel on Thursday really useful a number of prosecutions.

But the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission didn’t make public both its report or the names of individuals it had really useful for prosecution, leaving it unclear whether or not Mr. Jammeh, who ruled for 22 years earlier than going into exile virtually 5 years in the past, is amongst those that may face legal prices.

In Gambia, a tiny sliver of a rustic on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, Mr. Jammeh’s fall from energy in 2017 was greeted with jubilation.

But that temper has largely given option to disappointment with the federal government of his successor, President Adama Barrow, who’s operating for re-election. Mr. Jammeh and members of his regime haven’t been held to account, authorities reform proposals have failed or stalled, and Mr. Barrow has made a political alliance with Mr. Jammeh’s celebration.

“We expect the president to show some commitment, and have the political will to fully implement the recommendations,” mentioned Sheriff Kijera, chairman of the Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations. “Jammeh should face justice at all costs.”

When requested if the federal government would prosecute these most accountable for the abuses, the knowledge minister, Ebrima Sillah, mentioned by telephone: “I cannot commit to that,” saying it might depend upon the deserves of the report.

The fee reported the deaths of 240 to 250 folks within the custody of the state or its brokers, in addition to rape, torture, disappearances and witch hunts, its chairman, Lamin Sise, mentioned in a press briefing outlining the findings in Banjul, the Gambian capital.

The panel held 871 days of hearings, streaming them live online in an unusually public airing of human rights abuses. Among the 393 witnesses who testified was a soldier who mentioned he killed a outstanding journalist on the president’s order, and a lady, Fatou Jallow, who accused Mr. Jammeh of raping her.

The fee delivered its report back to President Barrow, who is meant to provide copies inside a month to the nation’s National Assembly and to the United Nations secretary common.

That means it isn’t more likely to turn into public till after the Dec. four presidential election. Among the candidates operating in opposition to Mr. Barrow is Essa Faal, the investigative fee’s high lawyer.

Mr. Barrow has secured the backing of segments of Mr. Jammeh’s celebration, which isn’t fielding its personal presidential candidate and nonetheless has appreciable well-liked assist. Advocating the prosecution of members of the earlier authorities may jeopardize that backing.

Mr. Sillah, the knowledge minister, mentioned the president would have six months to evaluation the report, after which the federal government would publish a doc giving its response.

Mr. Jammeh first took energy at age 29 in a army coup, and pushed by a brand new structure concentrating energy within the president’s palms. His rule was marked by corruption and the suppression of political opposition, the press and L.G.B.T. rights. He claimed to treatment H.I.V. with herbs.

But the federal government held a comparatively free election in 2016, and Mr. Barrow defeated Mr. Jammeh, who refused to just accept the outcomes. Only after a army intervention by a number of neighboring nations in January 2017 did Mr. Jammeh relinquish energy, transferring to Equatorial Guinea.

Mr. Barrow’s administration was presupposed to be a transitional one, setting Gambia on the street to democracy. But the suggestions of a Commission of Inquiry into Mr. Jammeh’s funds have been solely partially carried out, and final yr a newly proposed, extra democratic structure was defeated within the National Assembly.

The proposed structure would have curbed govt powers and restricted a president to 2 five-year phrases. The time period restrict would have utilized retroactively to Mr. Barrow, so he would have been permitted only one extra time period.

That left the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission as the one official path left for coming to phrases with the Jammeh period. Its ultimate report was initially scheduled to be delivered in July, however was delayed till September after which delayed again.

“We have the truth,” mentioned Baba Hydara, who has lengthy campaigned for justice for the 2004 assassination of his father, the newspaper editor Deyda Hydara. “Now we need justice. Justice for my father, justice for all of Jammeh’s victims, and justice for Gambian society as a whole.”

Saikou Jammeh reported from Banjul, Gambia, and Ruth Maclean from Dakar, Senegal.



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