Exiled Gambian President Yahya Jammeh expressed his intention to return to the leadership of his party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), in an audio message broadcast on Thursday, according to AFP.
Jammeh, who ruled The Gambia with an iron fist from 1994 to 2017, was forced to leave the country in January 2017 under pressure from West African states after his defeat in the presidential election against Adama Barrow, re-elected at the end of 2021. Since his departure, he has lived in Equatorial Guinea, but continues to exert influence on the politics of his home country.
In his message to his supporters in the APRC, which he founded in 1996, Jammeh said: “I decided today to take back the leadership of my party and no longer entrust it to anyone”. He goes on to say: “Like it or not, by the grace of Allah, I am coming back“, without specifying whether it is a return to Gambia or to political life.
The Gambia, which suffered under its authoritarian regime, is seeking to turn the page on the violence of the Jammeh era. In December 2022, the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) supported the creation of a special court to try crimes committed under its regime, and Jammeh could be the main defendant before this court. Additionally, the Gambian government agreed in 2022 to prosecute 70 people, including Jammeh, based on the recommendations of a commission that investigated atrocities committed during his rule.
-In his message, Jammeh responded to threats of legal action by saying: “Let those who threaten to put me in prison wait until I arrive. The day of accountability is approaching, and on that day, we will settle the accounts. »
The Gambia, a small country of two million inhabitants, remains one of the poorest in the world, among the 20 least developed countries according to the United Nations.
