Adama Barrow will favour Jammeh's extradition to face justice

Gambian President Adama Barrow has said he will favour the extradition of his predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, if a commission of inquiry into human-rights abuses during the former ruler’s 22-year reign recommends that he stands trial.

Jammeh’s two-decade rule of the tiny West African nation came to an end in January 2017 after Senegalese troops and Nigerian fighter jets were sent to the capital, Banjul, to enforce the outcome of Barrow’s election victory in December 2016.

The country’s parliament passed a law in December 2017 to establish a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission to probe state crimes committed during Jammeh’s reign, which was characterized by a violent clampdown on dissent and opposition parties and pledges to kill homosexuals.

“I stand for justice for all crimes committed against the population. No one is above the law,” Barrow said in an interview in Banjul on Wednesday. If the commission recommends a trial then Jammeh “will face the full force of the law.”

In July, Barrow initiated a separate commission of inquiry to identify Jammeh’s assets and probe whether they were legally acquired.

Jammeh, 52, who lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea, was sanctioned last month by the U.S for alleged human-rights abuses and corruption during his reign. Gambia doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Equatorial Guinea.