Once again, exiled former dictator Yahya Jammeh says he will return from exile, as the government vows to arrest him under post-Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission reforms.

Was Yahya Jammeh inspired by Guinea’s former leader, Moussa Dadis Camara – who seemed to walk into his country’s judicial jaws after exile, was convicted, then pardoned? It is not the first time The Gambia’s former president has said he will leave Equatorial Guinea. He has been there for almost eight years.

In January, he announced in an audio message that he was resuming leadership of his party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), repeating a move he made five years earlier.

Months later, on 26 October, thousands of Jammeh’s supporters in his home village of Kanilai listened to a new voice note in which the former president said he would return to The Gambia in November 2025 to resume political work.

In the recording, he refers to a supposed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations and the European Union.

The government’s reply    

Two days later, the government issued a statement reaffirming “the right of every Gambian citizen, including Jammeh, to return to the country”, a right “guaranteed by the Constitution and respected under international law”.

But it said this right “does not shield anyone from responsibility for alleged serious crimes, established by credible and documented evidence”.

Banjul cites the work of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), saying that if Jammeh returns, he will be arrested, detained and prosecuted for alleged crimes committed during his 22-year rule, which ended after the December 2016 election.

After initially recognising Adama Barrow’s victory — he was reelected in 2021 — Jammeh reversed course. In January 2017, a month after the vote, he fled into exile under ECOWAS pressure. The bloc has since backed the creation of a special court to try crimes committed during his 22-year rule.

While promising a trial that is “fair, equitable and respectful”, Banjul also says that no deal grants the former dictator immunity.

The TRRC’s findings link Jammeh to grave human-rights violations: summary executions, murders, torture, enforced disappearances and sexual violence, as well as abuse of state assets.

In its statement, the government said implementing the commission’s recommendations “as approved in the government’s White Paper”, shows a lasting commitment to accountability, justice and non-recurrence. Guest editorial

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 Once again, exiled former dictator Yahya Jammeh says he will return from exile, as the government vows to arrest him…
The post The Gambia: Yahya Jammeh will be arrested if he returns appeared first on .