Numerous human rights violations were allegedly committed under the Jammeh regime. Photo: Trial International
In a potential precedent for Liberia’s transitional justice process, Ecowas, West Africa’s regional bloc, has finally approved The Gambia’s request to establish a Special Tribunal to try alleged crimes committed during the military dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh whose rule from 1996 to 2017 was marked by arbitrary detention, sexual abuse and extrajudicial killings.
By New Narratives justice correspondents Yankuba Jallow in The Gambia and Anthony Stephens in Liberia.
The Gambia needed an international partner to try international crimes that are not covered in Gambian law. Ecowas had rejected The Gambia’s request in July ruling that, if the proceedings of the Gambia Tribunal were questioned, Ecowas would lose its legitimacy to mediate leaving the Tribunal with “nowhere else to run.”
Two Liberian legislators, Edwin Snowe and Taa Wongbe, took to the floor to support Ecowas’s rejection of The Gambia’s request in July. Mr. Wongbe is a newly elected Representative from Nimba County and Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee. Mr. Snowe has had political and family ties with Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, who is serving a sentence of 50 years in prison for his role in Sierra Leone’s civil war. At the time Mr. Snowe said he supported the establishment of a Liberian court but did not want Ecowas to be a part of it.
Ecowas appears to have overcome perceived obstacles in its latest Heads of State and Government meeting on Sunday. The bloc has not released its final ruling but after the July rejection experts said the problem was not with the draft statute for the court. They said Gambian officials needed to do more on the diplomatic front to win support from the diplomats at Ecowas Mediation and Security Council, which sets the agenda for the Heads of State meetings.
Liberia, which is in the early processes of establishing its own War and Economics Crimes Court, was a key advocate for The Gambia according to Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Liberia’s Foreign Minister. She told the state broadcaster that Liberia’s court was very much in mind.
“It’s captured in the final documentation that Liberia wanted to register that Ecowas’ support is required, and precedent has been set with Gambia and must be applied to Liberia as well,” Madam Nyanti said.
The former president Yahya Jammeh holds up a Qur’an in Banjul in 2006. Photograph: Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters
The Gambia’s 2021 Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission report recommended reparations and the prosecution of 61 people it deemed most responsible human rights violations, including Mr. Jammeh who is now in exile in Equatorial Guinea. The Gambia formally proposed a partnership with Ecowas in October 2022 to establish the Special Tribunal. Part of the reason Ecowas support was needed was that many victims came from the region, outside The Gambia. Jammeh was tied to the murders of about 59 West African migrants in the TRRC report, the majority of whom were from Ghana.
The Gambia’s Special Tribunal will function as an independent institution that integrates elements of both domestic and international law. It will include judges, prosecutors, and staff from The Gambia, Ecowas, and international experts, granting it comprehensive jurisdiction over international crimes as well as serious violations under Gambian law. Its headquarters will be in The Gambia, but the Tribunal will also have the capacity to hold proceedings in third countries if necessary. That could mean accused perpetrators hiding in other West African countries could still face trial outside The Gambia.
The Gambia Ministry of Justice hailed the decision, the first collaborative effort between Ecowas and its member states to create an internationalized tribunal dedicated to prosecuting serious crimes committed within its territory.
“The Government of The Gambia expresses sincere appreciation to the Ecowas Heads of State for their support of this important decision,” it said in a statement. “We are committed to fostering justice for victims and promoting national reconciliation through this initiative.”
The ruling clears the path for the government to move quickly to establish the court and begin investigations. It is not a moment too soon for Sainabou Camara, a victim of the alleged atrocities who still suffers from complications from her abuse.
“Justice must be done, justice must be done, justice must be done,” Sainabou said. “Victims are dying one by one. Some are sick while some are in critical condition. Of course, we need this Special Tribunal for justice to be done.”
But Madam Camara echoed the words of others who are still waiting for reparations and medical treatment decades on. In The Gambia, as in Liberia, victims are frustrated that alleged perpetrators continue to hold office.
“Our perpetrators are living free and enjoying while we are sick and not enjoying. It is so difficult for us. Some of the perpetrators are saying the report of the TRRC will be like tissue papers – meaning nothing will come out of it,” she said. “We need justice. We need our health back.”
Liberia’s first civil war killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of Liberians
Liberia’s victims, some waiting for justice and reparations as long as 35 years, share that pain. The country first submitted written a request for support for its court from Ecowas in May. At the same time President Joseph Boakai quietly requested technical and financial support from the UN. Liberian advocates say Ecowas’s support for The Gambia’s court is a big step.
“I think it’s not just a precedent, but a stimulant for pushing forward the advocacy for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court in Liberia,” said Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe, an ex-president of the Liberian National Bar Association who travelled to The Gambia in 2021 to help draw up its court statute. “If a non-civil war situation can be subjected to that type of accountability by setting up a special mechanism for accountability, then what about Liberia that had 14 years of atrocious civil conflict, where a lot of people were killed? So, the establishment of a Special Tribunal in Gambia makes the advocacy for a special tribunal in Liberia stronger.”
Liberia’s newly formed Office for the Establishment of War Economic Crimes Court said in a statement that Ecowas’s decision was a milestone and called on “Ecowas to subsequently support Liberia’s effort towards establishing its War and Economic Crimes Court and Anti-Corruption Court.”
One complication raised in Liberia’s case is the role of peacekeepers who were deployed by the regional body during the civil war. So-called “Ecomog” troops, – as many as 12,000, the vast majority from Nigeria but also from The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mali – were accused of committing widespread human rights violations during a three year period from 1990. Counsellor Gongloe said the performance of Ecowas’ court in recent years shows it has cleaned up its act.
“If soldiers acted outside the scope of the laws of war, then they can be individually held responsible,” said Cllr. Gongloe. “I think that given the way the Ecowas community court of justice has been performing, in terms of holding governments, including even the biggest government in the subregion, accountable for human rights violations, I think that Ecowas as a body will not undermine the importance or the performance of the justice mechanism that will be set up here.”
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.
