DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – Gambia’s new president Adama Barrow said Saturday that he will launch a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the alleged human rights abuses of Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year regime.
In an interview with The Associated Press just hours after Jammeh finally acquiesced to political exile, Barrow, 51, said it is too soon to tell whether the former president could face trial at the International Criminal Court or elsewhere.
“We aren’t talking about prosecution here. We are talking about getting a truth and reconciliation commission,” he said. “Before you can act, you have to get the truth, to get the facts together.”
The exact terms of Jammeh’s departure remained under wraps Saturday apart from his destination: Guinea.
“What is fundamental here is he will live in a foreign country as of now,” said Barrow, visibly tired and wearing a powder blue traditional West African boubou robe and white leather slip-on shoes.