This plan provides for the creation of an office of an independent special prosecutor who will have to investigate and prosecute the crimes of the Yahya Jammeh era, and that of a hybrid mixed tribunal between Gambia and ECOWAS, like the one which had been set up by Senegal and the African Union to try Hissein Habré of Chad.
But all this will be very expensive, 43 million US dollars to set up this double mechanism and finance the investigations according to Banjul. The European Union has pledged 9 million euros during this donors’ conference, the United Kingdom, the United States or even Qatar have promised contributions on their side, without announcing figures.
For Reed Brody, lawyer for the International Commission of Jurists who support the victims of Yaya Jammeh, The Gambia is on the right track even if there is still a long way to go. ” Yahya Jammeh has been out of power for six years now. We had an excellent Truth Commission which revealed almost everything. But it won’t be right away. The establishment of these structures will take time, unfortunately for the victims, some of whom have already been waiting for twenty years. But it is a really important first step that we have just taken. »
We are not there yet, but some are already wondering if Yaya Jammeh can one day be judged. This would require getting Equatorial Guinea, which has no extradition treaty with Gambia, to hand over the former dictator who has been welcomed and is protected so far by Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
