The Government of The Gambia has refuted claims of a Memorandum of Understanding or promises for immunity for former president Yaya Jammeh, emphasising that Jammeh would be arrested and indicted in line with law any time he returns to The Gambia from exile.
The disclosure by Government came on the sidelines of public state statements by the former president Yahya Jammeh, who told supporters that he would return to The Gambia next month.
While the Government stressed that the right of every Gambian citizen, including former President Jammeh, to return home is guaranteed by the Constitution and international law, it averred that this right “does not shield any person from accountability for serious alleged crimes, particularly those established by credible evidence and documented through the work of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC)”.
“The TRRC has implicated former President Jammeh in grave human rights violations, including murder, torture, enforced disappearances, and sexual violence,” the Government disclosed.
“The Government takes these findings with utmost seriousness. If and when Mr. Jammeh returns, robust legal processes will be activated in line with The Gambia’s laws. This will include investigation, arrest, and prosecution, with a guarantee of due process, fair trial standards, and respect for the rights of all involved.”
The dispatch added: “The Government wishes to correct recent claims about the existence of a Memorandum of Understanding or any promise of immunity for the former President. No such agreement exists. The only document contemporaneous with his departure was an unsigned Joint Declaration by the African Union, ECOWAS and the United Nations.”
“This declaration was a diplomatic effort to secure a peaceful transition, not a binding guarantee; it conferred no immunity from prosecution, nor did it place former President Jammeh beyond the reach of the law.”
Meanwhile, the Government noted that as a sovereign nation, The Gambia retains the right and duty to prosecute serious crimes within its territory, and that no political understanding, signed or unsigned, could override this fundamental obligation.
In that regard, it reassures victims of the former regime and their families, whose testimonies were critical to the TRRC’s work that their pursuit of justice remains at the heart of the nation’s reconciliation and reform process.
The implementation of the TRRC’s recommendations, it further clarified, as endorsed in the Government’s White Paper reflects an enduring commitment to accountability, justice, and non-recurrence.
“The Government remains steadfast in building a just, peaceful, and democratic society for all Gambians. It will ensure that the rule of law is upheld and that impunity is never tolerated, while safeguarding the rights of every person,” it concluded.
