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“I’m coming back,” announces ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh

Former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh, in Serekunda, September 2006. SEYLLOU DIALLO / AFP

In an audio message consulted Thursday January 23 by Agence -Presse (AFP), the former Gambian dictator in exile Yahya Jammeh affirmed his intention to resume the leadership of his party and to ” to come back “. Mr. Jammeh ruled with an iron fist, from 1994 to 2017, this small West African country landlocked in Senegal with the exception of its maritime facade. He has lived in Equatorial Guinea since his forced departure in January 2017, under pressure from West African states following his defeat in the presidential election against Adama Barrow, re-elected at the end of 2021. Mr. Jammeh continues to influence political life in Gambia.

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“I decided today to take back the leadership of my party and no longer entrust it to anyone”he said in this message to his supporters in the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APCR), which he founded in 1996. “Like it or not, by the grace of Allah, I am coming back”he adds, without explaining his point regarding a return to political life, which he has not really left, or to his country.

In December, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) supported the creation of a special court responsible for trying crimes committed under its regime. Mr. Jammeh could be the main defendant before this court. The Gambian government in 2022 endorsed the recommendations of a commission that looked into Jammeh-era atrocities and agreed to prosecute 70 people, starting with Mr. Jammeh. “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”it M. Jammeh.

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The Gambia, a former British colony of 2 million inhabitants and the smallest continental state in Africa, is among the 20 least developed countries in the world, according to the United Nations.

The World with AFP

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