By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives For decades faith in The Gambia was weaponised — not as a source of healing, but as a tool of political control. Under Yahya Jammeh’s authoritarian rule, mosques and churches became less places of worship and more instruments of state propaganda. Jammeh compelled Gambians to follow his religious directives…
The Gambia
A General’s Final Days: Inquest Reveals Lapses in Care Before Death of Bora Colley in Military Custody
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives Magistrate Dawda Phatey of the Bundung Magistrates’ Court delivered the conclusion of a coroner’s inquest that sought to answer troubling questions surrounding the death of General Bora Colley. Over the course of nearly a month, nine witnesses—ranging from senior military officers to family members and medical professionals—offered testimony about…
US Shifts From Aid to Investment in Africa
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives In a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa, Ambassador Troy Fitrell, Senior Bureau Official for the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. State Department announced a dramatic shift in US foreign policy in Africa last month, which he said was aimed at transitioning the U.S.-Africa…
Beyond the Bars: Is Gambia Reforming Its Notorious Prisons?
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives In the early 2000s, Ebrima was silently led through the rusted gates of Mile 2 Central Prison in handcuffs. Convicted of rape during the former regime of President Yahya Jammeh, he remembers his first night vividly — the darkness, the stench, the heat, and the fear. “There was no…
As Campus Tensions Rise Students Renew Calls for Grievance Mechanism Recommended by Truth Commission
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives Two decades after a government crackdown on student protestors left 14 young people dead, tension is once again mounting on university campuses. At the heart of the unrest is a familiar grievance say experts: the absence of a credible, independent mechanism for students to air their concerns. Students say…
Gambia Orders Inquest into Death of Ex-Jungler Brigadier General Bora Colley
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The Gambian government has ordered a coroner’s inquest into the death of Brigadier General Bora Colley, a former military officer accused of grave human rights violations under ex-president Yahya Jammeh’s regime. Colley, who had been in custody since August 2024 after voluntarily returning from exile, died on March 9, 2025,…
Undoing Jammeh’s Legal Legacy: Gambia’s Dormant Reform Engine
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives When Yahya Jammeh’s authoritarian regime crumbled in 2017, a wave of hope swept across The Gambia. The new government, under President Adama Barrow, pledged to right the wrongs of a 22-year dictatorship that had silenced dissent, trampled rights, and governed through fear. At the heart of this reform agenda…
Justice Delayed: The Gambia’s Victims Demand Broader Accountability
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The long-awaited arrest warrant for Sanna Manjang, accused of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other human rights violations during Jammeh’s 22-year rule, has been met with a mix of relief and frustration among victims of Yahya Jammeh’s regime. The country’s 2018 Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission accused Jammeh and dozens…
International Expert Says Hope Not Lost for Justice After US Funding Cuts As Victims Demand Speed
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The long-awaited arrest warrant for Sanna Manjang, accused of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other human rights violations during Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule, has been met with a mix of relief and frustration among victims. The country’s 2018 Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission accused Jammeh and dozens of his lieutenants…
Gambia’s Victims Push for Reparations Amid Delays
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives Victims of human rights violations in The Gambia are growing increasingly frustrated over delays in processing reparations, which they say are long overdue. While the government has taken steps toward justice, including the establishment of a Special Criminal Division to prosecute crimes from the Yahya Jammeh era, victims say…
USAID Cuts Threatens Gambia’s Transitional Justice Process
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives For victims of The Gambia’s brutal dictatorship, the country’s transitional justice process represents hope for accountability and reparations. But last month’s sudden decision by the incoming administration of United States President Donald Trump to cancel almost all foreign aid has casted a shadow over that hope. President Trump’s decision…
A 15-Year Wait: The Unfulfilled Promise of Kerr Mot Ali’s Exiled Residents
By Yankuba Jallow Fifteen years ago, in 2009, the village of Kerr Mot Ali in The Gambia was a peaceful, thriving community, home to many families and followers of Sering Ndigal, a religious group known for its teachings of peace and spiritual healing. But that peace was shattered when the Gambian government launched a violent…
Trump Aid Cuts Bad News for The Gambia’s Hybrid Court
By Yankuba Jallow, Justice correspondent In one of its first moves the Trump administration has frozen all government assistance programs across the world for 90 days. Though much remains unclear, the new administration has indicated most of those programs – funded by USAID and the State Department – will be shuttered. The Gambia is not…
Liberian Warlord Pleads Guilty in US in Move that Experts Say Could Foreshadow the Trial of Gambian Defendant Michael Correa
By Yankuba Jallow The US trial of an accused Liberian warlord Laye Sekou Camara, alias “K-1” or “Dragon Master” has ended in a guilty plea. Camara, facing forty years in prison for lying about his war activities on US immigration forms, pleaded guilty days before his trial was set to go ahead. In a move…
U.S. Embassy in The Gambia Faces Possible Closure Amid Trump-Era State Department Retrenchment
By Yankuba Jallow with New Narratives The United States government is reportedly considering shutting down its embassy in The Gambia, an unprecedented diplomatic retreat that would mark the first closure of an American mission in Banjul since it was established shortly after the country’s independence in 1965. According to a leaked internal memo from the…
Yankuba JallowJustice Correspondent, The Gambia
Yankuba Jallow is New Narratives’ Justice Correspondent in The Gambia. He covers all aspects of The Gambia’s transitional justice process including the establishment of a hybrid court and the implementation of other recommendations of the country’s Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission. Yankuba is a law student and an editor at Foroyaa Newspaper in the Gambia, established in 1987….
Job Alert: Justice Correspondent, The Gambia
Job Location: Banjul, The Gambia Time: 3 days a week, ongoing Remuneration: This is a part time position with a FTE (full time equivalent) salary in the range of $1000 to $1200 a month (depending on experience) plus benefits. **POSITION FILLED** As The Gambia undertakes the groundbreaking process to hold perpetrators of human rights violations…
Victims of Alleged Jammeh Henchman Ousman Sonko Welcome Swiss Trial
It is not just Gambians hoping for justice in this case.
…
Gambian Prison Officers Testify In Crimes Against Humanity Trial Of Former Interior Minister In Switzerland
Two Gambian prison officers—Lamin Sanneh and Abdou Jammeh—testified to torture, and poor food and hygiene conditions at Gambia’s central prison— Mile 2—in the crimes against humanity trial of Gambia’s former Interior Minister Ousman Sonko in the Swiss city of Bellinzona. …
Former Gambian Interior Minister Takes The Stand After Swiss Court Denies Submission Over Procedural Issues
Ousman Sonko, Gambia’s former interior minister, who turned 55 on Tuesday, took the stand for the first time at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland. …
Alleged Jammeh Enforcer Sonko Goes on Trial for Crimes Against Humanity in Switzerland
Ousman Sonko, a 54-year-old former interior minister of The Gambia, goes on trial for crimes against humanity in the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in the city of Bellinzona….