Gambia’s outgoing President Yahya Jammeh will be prosecuted for alleged crimes committed during his rule, a leading member of the coalition which defeated him in last week’s election has told the UK-based Guardian newspaper.
Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang said there was no question of immunity for Mr Jammeh:
“He will be prosecuted. I’m saying [within] a year but it could be less than that. This is my personal opinion – it might have taken three months because we really want to really work fast.”
In the interview, Ms Jallow-Tambajang said Mr Jammeh had the “bunkers and treasure” to start a rebellion from his farm in KInali, near the border with Senegal.
We don’t trust him. The longer we leave him, the more possibilities he has to leave the country, to escape from the country and to even do an insurgency. He is capable. The man is capable.
She told the newspaper that Mr Jammeh was barred from going abroad:
“He can’t leave. If he leaves, he’s going to escape us. We are stopping him from leaving. We are negotiating. He said he wants to go to Kanilai. Any day he tells us he wants to go abroad, then we say no. It’s the presidential prerogative.”
After his shock defeat at the hands of property developer Adama Barrow in last week’s election, Mr Jammeh said he intended to retire in Kanilai.
He seized power in a coup in 1994 and is accused of leading one of the most repressive states in Africa where his opponents were jailed, exiled and allegedly killed.
He strongly denies the allegations and says he improved the living conditions of Gambians.
