Lenah
Follow us
Justice Hub
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Justice Hub
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Justice Hub
No Result
View All Result

The debate on accountability in The New Gambia

February 20, 2017
in Insights
0
0
Home Insights
FacebookTwitterLinkedInWhatsappEmail

By Justice Hub

At the weekend Gambia partied. It’s been a time for celebration as the new president Adama Barrow formally took power and everyone – or at least many many thousands – came to the inauguration.

And his gesture – releasing all political prisoners – was celebrated.

Al Jazeera reporter.  Jammeh was reputed to have called the prison “my personal hotel” and guards told the reporter that Jammeh “would call in during torture asking to hear the prisoners cry”.

[youtube video=’FxQCGca_7Nw’]

It was a day later that the prisoners they’d met insider were released

is making promises.

“a body will be set up to look into forced disappearances and to investigate “black sites” that may still be holding victims”

It’s even possible that a commission of enquiry or a truth commission may be set up, as hinted at by the new president.

Some arrests are also reported to have begun.

“Suwandi Camara, a former fighter for Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, and accomplice Bubacarr Jarju have been charged with abducting a Gambian lawmaker and a businessman in Senegal with intent to murder them. General Bora Colley, former head of the country’s notorious prison system, was arrested in Senegal last month, though later released without charge. The biggest fish so far, former interior minister Ousman Sonko, was arrested in Switzerland in late January.”

The pressure group TRIAL says the authorities should be investigating torture and crimes against humanity

“As the head of detention centers, M. Sonko could not have ignored the large-scale torture that political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders suffered there”

But our community on Justice Hub is still hotly debating the issues. Last month we asked you  specifically whether Yaha Jammeh himself  would ever be brought to account. 

This comment came into our Facebook page by Edriss Ramatoulie Deby:

“if Allah want to killed him thousand times, he can. let Is forgive and forget and give him breathing ground. Now Gambia has decided for a new regime and a brighter future let us wrap the wounds and past ugly scenarios in the astray of history.
let us focus on the socio-economic development and try hard and harder to transform your beloved country into highly develop model country…”

Many people liked it but Abdoulie M Sanyang disagreed:

“I can assure you that dictator Jammeh will someday be prosecuted not by ICC but by a competent Gambia court. That’s when most Gambians can have the opportunity to testify against his evil crimes.”

and Nuhu Othman supported that view – Jammeh won’t always be holed up in Equatorial Guinea where he’s been given exile by president Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

“Well Africa is fast democratising. Obiang will someday leave, certainly. And Jammeh will have to face justice. In as much as people think the ICC is set out to bring down African leaders as soon as they leave power, I always beg to differ on this because it’s about complementarity. If we have a robust justice system, we may not necessarily have to refer our cases to the ICC. Strengthening our transitional justice mechanisms is another way to go.”

Much of the debate focused on whether a trial at the Hague-based court – the ICC itself – would be the right venue for him.

MC Chri strongly disagreed

“They should prosecute other leaders in the WORLD!!”

But Momodoulamin Manneh had a different focus

“People talk about the west not taking their leaders to ICC, but did the western leaders kill, rape, torture, detain their own people without trial? Hell no, but Africa leaders commits all these crimes against their own people. So we need justice for their victims.”

Maybe as the stories of individual victims in The Gambia emerge, there will be a bigger movement to hold Jammeh accountable. This piece is about how even those close to the former dictator fell foul of him, and it ends with the hope from the victims that “justice will finally come”.

Is this going to be a process like that of Hissene Habre – a many decades long wait and then an African solution? Let us know your views now that peace has returned to The Gambia.

Image – Twitter @barrowofficial1

 

Tags: crimes against humanityICC (International Criminal Court)Justice Insights
ShareTweetShareSendSend

Justice Hub

Justice Hub is an online platform connecting conversations about international justice.

Related Posts

“The Men Who Killed Me” 2.0 project: Understanding sexual violence in conflict and empowering its survivors 
Insights

“The Men Who Killed Me” 2.0 project: Understanding sexual violence in conflict and empowering its survivors 

by Justice Hub
October 7, 2018
0
50

By Anne-Marie de Brouwer, Eefje de Volder and Milena Adamczewska Video of Conversations with survivors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide...

Read more
Mudukuti: Too many have lost sight of the victims behind egregious crimes

Mudukuti: Too many have lost sight of the victims behind egregious crimes

September 27, 2018
58
“The dialogue on international justice needs to become more diverse and global”

“The dialogue on international justice needs to become more diverse and global”

September 27, 2018
43
Rome Statute drafter: No one at the time thought we would have a functioning ICC in only 20 years

Rome Statute drafter: No one at the time thought we would have a functioning ICC in only 20 years

September 27, 2018
45
The Venom of War in northern Uganda

The Venom of War in northern Uganda

September 16, 2018
36

Justice Hub

Justice Hub is an online platform connecting conversations about international justice.

Justice Hub

Justice Hub is an online platform aimed at a worldwide audience of 18-35 year olds, especially in countries where people are looking for sustainable and innovative solutions to problems of justice, peace and security. Justice can feel too abstract, too often owned by experts. We make the conversations lively and accessible.

Follow Us

Quick Links

  • Featured
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

 

  HPPJ Forum Login
Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
No Result
View All Result
  • My Justice
  • News
  • Insights
  • Justice Explained
  • About Us

© 2018 Justice Hub

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Login

Lost password?
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.

REPUBLISHING TERMS

You may republish this article online or in print under our Creative Commons license. You may not edit or shorten the text, you must attribute the article to Aeon and you must include the author’s name in your republication.

If you have any questions, please email nsharafa@gmail.com

License

Creative Commons License AttributionCreative Commons Attribution
The debate on accountability in The New Gambia