YAHYA Jammeh, The Gambia’s former dictator, has announced plans to reclaim control of his political party and declared he is ‘coming back’ to his home country. In an audio message obtained by AFP on Thursday, Jammeh expressed his intention to return despite mounting legal challenges and his years of exile in Equatorial Guinea.
Jammeh ruled The Gambia for 22 years, leading a regime accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and the use of death squads. He fled the country in 2017 after losing the presidential election to Adama Barrow. Despite his exile, Jammeh retains a strong base of supporters and continues to influence Gambian politics from afar.
In the audio message directed at his followers from the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), the party he founded in 1996, Jammeh said, ‘Today, I have decided to take over my party myself and will not entrust it to anyone again. Whether anybody likes it or not, by the grace of Allah, I am coming back.’
He also issued a warning to those threatening him with legal action. ‘Let those threatening me with jail wait until I arrive. A day of accountability is coming, and it will be a day of reckoning,’ he declared.
Tensions rise amid legal and political challenges
Jammeh’s announcement comes just a month after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) backed the creation of a hybrid court to try crimes committed during his rule. The Gambian government has endorsed recommendations from the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), which investigated atrocities under Jammeh’s regime. These include the prosecution of 70 individuals, including Jammeh himself, who seized power in a 1994 coup.
The APRC, which Jammeh founded, remains a key political player in The Gambia. The party’s influence was evident in 2021 when President Barrow secured a second term after his party struck a controversial alliance with the APRC, widely seen as an effort to appeal to Jammeh’s supporters.
Jammeh’s legacy and the road ahead
The Gambia, one of Africa’s smallest nations with a population of about two million, remains among the world’s 20 least developed countries, according to the United Nations. Jammeh’s return would likely further polarise the country, which has been grappling with the legacy of his rule and the need for justice and reconciliation.
As Gambians await Jammeh’s next move, questions loom over the feasibility of his return amid the threat of legal prosecution. For now, his message signals an unyielding desire to reclaim political power and influence in a country still recovering from his divisive legacy.
