Picture Source: AFP

Dawda Nyassi was a former fighter in the Liberian civil war. He was believed to have been   affiliated with  Kukoi, a socialist “quack” revolutionary who seized power for about 2 weeks, in The Gambia in 1981. Nyassi would spend a few years in Liberia where he got married and had 2 kids. He returned home in 2006. 

Like most of his team members, they would be arrested intermittently by the security forces for suspicion of overthrowing the government. After 2 succeeding arrests, Dawda’s luck ran out. 

A timber trader, he took a trip from his home village Bondali, in Foni, to the metropolitan Gambia. He never returned. An investigation by the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission would establish that Dawda was tied to a tree and shot point blank by Malick Jatta. Before he pulled the trigger, Jatta confessed to telling Dawda the following words: “I am ordered to kill you in the interest of the state.”

While Malick and his colleague Alieu Jeng, confirmed to have been involved in the execution, still walk free in the streets of Banjul, the man behind the wheels for that operation— Bai Lowe— was sentenced to life by a German court on November 30 for the murder. 

“I believe that the 60 trial days in Germany has proven beyond any doubt that the accused took part in the killings and they were part of a widespread and systematic attack on the Gambian civil society by Yahya Jammeh,” said Patrick Kroker, the lawyer who represented the families of Dawda Nyassi, journalist Deyda Hydara and Lawyer Ousman Sillah. 

 “I hope that for the victims of Yahya Jammeh, this will be a step towards justice and the verdict supports the process in The Gambia of setting up a hybrid court.”

Slow progress in prosecution in The Gambia 

According to the findings of the Truth Commission, at least 600 persons were mentioned to be involved in human rights violations and crimes committed under the 22-year rule of Jammeh. At least 71 persons were recommended for prosecution, four of whom— Jungler Amadou Badjie, Musa Jammeh, Tumbul Tamba and soldier Almamo Manneh —- are deceased. 

Since 2017, only 2 prosecutions– successful murder trials of former local government minister Yankuba Touray and 7 former officials of the National Intelligence Agency— were done by the state. None of the two cases came as a result of the Commission’s recommendation.

A lot more seems to be happening outside the country. Bai Lowe has been sentenced to life in Germany, the former interior minister Ousman Sonko faces charges of crimes against humanity in Switzerland in January, and former Jungler Michael Sang Correa faces torture charges in the US in September 2024. 

Recently, the war crime division of the UK police also commenced an investigation into a Scotland-based alleged former torturer at the NIA Edrisa Jobe also called Alagie Morr. It is unclear how much contribution Gambia makes towards active cases elsewhere but the court in Germany has revealed that the Gambian authorities failed to cooperate with their mutual legal assistance requests though the Ministry of Justice denied this. 

“The court has said that there was no cooperation whatsoever by the Gambian authorities…,” said lawyer Patrick Kroker. “At the beginning of the trial, there was even a person designated by the Gambian Ministry of Justice to handle the mutual legal assistance requests. There were positive signs but very early in the proceedings, this cooperation stopped completely.” 

According to the justice minister Dawda Jallow, though, prosecution could soon start locally. Jallow said they are working on appointing a special prosecutor who commences work in November 2024. But victims are not convinced enough is being done by the Ministry.

“The government is not ready to help the victims. They are always saying we are working on it. We have not seen anything. I don’t have hope that there will be justice,” said Ebrima Nyassi, one of the three sons of Dawda Nyassi. 

Lifting the veil over Junglers

The ex-president Yahya Jammeh ruled Gambia with an iron fist for 22 years. It was a story of fear, both by its blatant killings and the secrecy of it. The story of disappearances was enough to provide content for a special column in a local Foroyaa newspaper. 

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The killers— even with their stench everywhere— remained an invisible hand, for the most part. Some sort of an urban legend. The information vacuum gave way to rumours. For a lot of self-righteous Gambians, the so-called, yet elusive “black, black” credited with disappearances and killings were some “Jammeh-sponsored” rebels from south of Senegal, Casamance. 

“I was working at the Office of the President. I did not know the Junglers,” said Fatu Camara, a journalist and proprietor of the online publication The Fatu Network. Fatu, who interviewed Lowe at least 2 times on her online radio when Jammeh was still in power, testified against Lowe in the trial in Celle, Germany. 

“Everyone was saying we heard there were Junglers. Bai Lowe came and said I know there were Junglers. And I am their driver. Without his testimonies, most of the people probably would not have known about the death of their people.” 

Joint efforts to remove Jammeh

The Gambian diaspora was one of the leading political constituents against Jammeh. They put in their money and actively mobilised public opinion against his abuse. They created alternative media too. Online radios and websites sprang up everywhere, from Europe to America, rendering Jammeh’s censorship machine almost useless. 

And though they remained an active voice in Gambian politics with calls for justice for Jammeh-era crimes, there has been a strange silence over the recent life sentence of Bai Lowe in Germany. 

“He was a saviour too,” said Fatu. “His coming into the struggle gave it an impetus against Jammeh.” Except, this was not enough to cleanse him of the blood of Deyda Hydara and Dawda Nyassi. 

Lowe was involved in the December 30, 2014, attack on the State House, one of the most daring attempts by diaspora Gambians to remove Jammeh. “He didn’t play any specific role in the attack against Jammeh in Dec 2014. He was part of it as a foot soldier,” said Alagie Saidy Barrow, an instrumental player in the coup attempt. On December 1, 2016, Jammeh lost in a shocking election defeat to President Adama Barrow. In 2019, the Barrow administration established a Truth Commission to probe crimes committed during Jammeh’s rule. Alagie would later be the director of research and investigation at the Commission. Lowe again came in handy. 

“I was in touch with Bai Lowe during the TRRC and he was also talking to other staff of the TRRC helping us with our investigations,” Alagie told Malagen. “In fact, through Bai Lowe, I would be connected to three Junglers who were all interested in testifying before the TRRC. One of them changed his mind because he believed Jammeh was coming back to the Gambia. The others simply stopped responding to my messages.” Though Lowe did not testify before the Commission, Alagie said until he left, he was cooperating with them. 

Ebrima Nyassi, a son of Dawda Nyassi who was 11 when he disappeared.

The amends came late

Fatu, as is Alagie, are victims of a double story. The tale of a transformed man who dared death on December 30, 2014, to tame a beast whose side he once fought. “On the other hand, Bai Lowe was also involved in killings. And a senior journalist we all come to be associated with, Deyda Hydara, lost his life. There has to be justice for that too,” said Fatu. 

Not everyone saw the good, as they did the evil. 

Ebrima, the second eldest of Dawda Nyassi’s 3 male children, was 11 when his father was arrested for a third time. They lived in Bondali, a little, agrarian society in Foni where life– like most villages in Gambia– is a daily struggle. His younger brother, Modou, was 9. Their oldest, Omar, who was barely 20, was unemployed. 

Dawda’s murder left them for the treatment of naked poverty. After a German court sentenced Bai Lowe to life, Malagen met Ebrima at a small barbing salon he operates in Farato. “No one was there for us. Our dad was the breadwinner of the family,” he said.

“None of us could complete our education. I was in grade 2. Our eldest was in grade 6. We all dropped out. The only person who could take care of our education bill disappeared.

“I was so happy when I heard Bai Lowe was given a life sentence. I want the government to also make efforts to bring the rest of the Junglers to justice.” 

Additional reporting by Mariam Sankanu.