Essa Mbye Faal, Lead Counsel for Gambia’s Truth Commision mandated and tasked to investigate human rights violations during the leadership of former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, has said that he is “ashamed” of what had happened in the country during the 22 years of terror under Jammeh.
Delivering his closing remarks in which he profusely thanked his all female team of assistants in the TRRC legal team whom he credited for the success of their task, Lead Counsel Faal recounted the many human rights violations under Yahya Jammeh including what he called “gruesome, gruesome, gruesome” murders, as he recounts how one of the victims was killed and chopped into pieces to feed Jammeh’s crocodiles, saying between 200 and 250 Gambians and foreigners were murdered that were directly sanctioned by or attributed to the former President himself.
Faal accused former President Jammeh of doing whatever it took to entrench and cement his grip on power including state sanctioned murders and disappearances of enemies, perceived or real in order to continue ruling the country.
In a passionate and eloquent statement, Counsel Faal said he’s ashamed that this was the country in which our people lived in, ashamed that this is the country where his parents live, ashamed that this is the country in which his children lived and are growing up.
“This was the country where when you kill in the name of the President, you are protected”, citing the case of a Nigerian killed by Almamo Manneh as Jammeh’s convoy passed.
In concluding his closing remarks, Lead Counsel Faal offered these:
“If we do not correct the ills of the past we will be sowing seeds of disaster for the future!”
The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) concluded its public hearings on Friday and will now concentrate on writing the report in which recommendations will be made to ensure that what had happened under the 22 years of former President Yahya Jammeh’s repressive and brutal rule will never happen again. “NEVER AGAIN”
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