By Mustapha Jallow
Isatou Jammeh, widely known as “Aisha Jammeh”, the co-founder and programme officer for the country’s Victims Center, has explained to this medium how the new task force is going to work closely with the special prosecutor’s office responsible for prosecuting alleged perpetrators of atrocities committed under former President Yahya Jammeh’s regime.
Aisha, an outspoken victim who resolutely commits to ensuring victims get justice – is a member of the task force established by the government to look into the cases of missing persons. These persons of enforced disappearances were abducted and killed with their bodies allegedly dumped into a well by the junglers—a team of paramilitary officers created by dictator Jammeh to eliminate his critics and opposition, including Gambians and non-Gambians.
Meanwhile, Ismaila Jammeh, Michael Correa {who is to be tried in April 2025 in US over torture and other charges}, Sanna Manjang, Alieu Jeng, Malick Jatta, Omar Jallow (Oya), Sulayman Sambou, Amadou Badjie, Solo Bojang among others are allegedly involved in killing Gambinas and non-Gambians alike. They abducted and killed opponents of the Jammeh regime, with others taken across the border into Senegal and shot or strangled and later dumped in wells.
Some junglers also confessed how they captured and executed over 50 African migrants, including 44 Ghanaians, who got stranded in Gambian waters on their way to Europe. They were arrested by the dictator’s security men when their boat docked and later accused of being mercenaries hired for a possible coup attempt against Jammeh.
Aisha’s beloved father – close brother to ex-president Jammeh was also killed and said to be thrown into a well. The nine inmates of Mile II prison were executed and their remains dumped in a well. Daba Marenah – ex-NIA chief, Ebou Lowe and other senior members of GAF, who were implicated in a failed coup were also killed, which some junglers already confessed at the TRRC.
Ma Hawa Cham and dozens of others who went missing under mysterious circumstances after being abducted by security forces were said to be killed. But the task force says there must be political will to help identify all these secret graves.
In this edition of a special interview, Isa spoke about the objectives, challenges, work models, and expectations of the task force, and other subjects.
Foroyaa: What are the objectives of the task force?
Aisha: Thank you, Foroyaa newspaper for giving me this opportunity to speak to you regarding the work of the task force. As you may know, one of the recommendations of the TRRC is to ensure that the cases of enforced disappearances are addressed. So, one of these recommendations is to ensure those enforcedly disappeared are being searched, their remains are found and then finally return to their families. Also, if there are prosecutions, those remains would be used to do forensic tests to confirm that they are the people missing.
The main mandate of the task force is to seek information and determine the whereabouts and fate of the individuals, who cannot be located due to the actions taken during the dictatorial rule of Jammeh. So, one of the responsibilities they (the task force) will discharge – is to identify and assess relevant shareholders with search-related capabilities, and also, to structure and organize search activities as well; and further develop effective search strategies.
Upon the establishment of these strategies, the task force will assign specific tasks to each relevant stakeholder involved in the search responses team as well as coordinate with all participating stakeholders to ensure cohesive and effective search responses. We will also share pertinent information with stakeholders and participate in the search. We will be responsible for ensuring the appropriate management of the remains of the deceased people who are missing. We will be a working team that will preserve burial sites as well as work with those collecting samples from the remains.
We will also provide information to families of missing persons – because obviously, enforced disappearances, families of the missing persons are always part of the process. You can’t do anything by sidelining them. They have to be part of the process from the start to the end. Also, the task force will ensure the return of the remains to the families when applicable, and we will work closely with the special office of the prosecutor that will be responsible for prosecuting cases of past atrocities that happened in the country.
So, this is what the task force would be doing to ensure that people who have been missing or disappeared are part of the process and the remains of these victims are found. Recently, we concluded a training headed by the International Red Cross (ICRC), where task force members were trained on how to do exhumation, how to search for graves of missing persons, how to collect samples, and how to identify remains and map out the grave areas and to ensure the graves are protected.
Foroyaa: Which institutions constitute the task force?
Aisha: To start with, I represented the Alliance of Victims-Led Organization (AVLO ) in the task force, but am a family member of a victim. We have family members of victims in the task force. We have a representative from the Ministry of Justice, which is the post-TRRC unit, we also have representatives from the police, immigration department, Ministry of Health, Office of the President, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), TANGO (CSOs) and National Human Rights Commission.
During our last meeting, we suggested other entities to be part of the task force, which is the Supreme Islamic Council and also the National Roads Authority; because they are responsible for our roads and we believed they would be able to find locations of these graveyards. So, I think this is the combination of the people we have in the task force.
Foroyaa: Do you have any technical experts at home or abroad?
The International Red Cross is the technical adviser. We have Justice Rapid Response, but I am not sure if the Ministry of Justice has started working with them. But I think they are also an entity the MoJ will work with because they also played a key role in the Solo Sandeng case. They helped a lot in terms of forensic tests. So, yes, we have international experts nationally – though we don’t have a lot of forensic expertise in the country, we have a few of us who are attending forensic training.
For example, a representative from NHRC and I have attended forensic academics in Guatemala, Central America. We went through forensic training, human identification system, etc. So, for the most part, most of us have experience in searching for missing people. But I think one of the recommendations we gave to the MoJ at the last meeting we had, was to provide training for all members of the task force, we had one before; however, we need more hands-on training to improve ourselves, because forensics is not a child’s play, it is a very crucial process and tedious one. And I think it is important that people have the capabilities to do what it takes to identify people and I think that needs training.
It needs continuous training and learning to be able to get there because we would not want to make the same mistakes when the TRRC was exhuming those bodies by using excavators to excavate the graves that had destroyed virtually all the bones, making it very difficult for identifications to be done.
Foroyaa: Does your mandate include making recommendations?
Aisha: Yes, our mandate includes making recommendations to the special prosecutor’s office. So, like I said the special prosecutor’s office would obviously ensure that cases are prosecuted. And the task force will work closely with the special prosecutor’s office anytime cases are ongoing, and then they need shreds of evidence of these things. So, as a task force, we can make recommendations to say to the prosecutor, for example {can you further look into this case? Can we further see how best we can locate this graveyard, to see whether or not the statement of a witness corroborates with particular evidence? So, obviously, we will make recommendations to the special prosecutor’s office that would be set up for prosecutions.
Foroyaa: To whom will you be submitting your report?
Aisha: Well, just like I said, we would be working hand in hand with the prosecutor’s office. Everything will be documented, and whenever the prosecutor needs these or that case – it will be given to them.
Foroyaa: When a person is missing it means relatives and friends do not know where that person was taken to and what happened to him or her. How much of a challenge is your task of tracking these missing persons?
Aisha: So, for now, if I am being honest with you, we don’t really have the full capacity to be able to search for the missing persons, if am being honest with you. At this point, we are just starting. We are just looking at how best we can use the resources that we have together with the support from the international partners are giving us to be able to get the hands-on experiences we need, to start up.
Also, there is a lot that needs to be done in terms of political will because if you look at it, most of the sites {graves} are not even in the Gambia, especially, those {graves} that are in Senegal. And I think that we really have to………. the government, not just the task force but the government needs to start bilateral talks with Senegal for the task force to be able to access those locations {graves of missing persons}. And I think, all these are processes that we would at some point get to, but at this point, we are in the starting point of the task force trying to put things in place. Putting mechanisms in place, getting training, here and there – people just getting to know how to do A and Z in terms of forensics.
So, this is where we are now. We have not even started the discussions about the locations, and when we are going to start exhuming. We are now setting things in place, and I think even the family members you mentioned want to know where their loved ones are buried. At this point, as a task force, we cannot even give that information though we have heard testimonies at the TRRC ……. that some say ‘this is where we buried this individual, that is where we buried that individual’, but as a task force, we cannot tell you those locations; whether those people were saying the fact or not, we cannot determine that until when we get to the job. Then we would be able to say or confirm that exactly what this perpetrator has said is actually true because there is a graveyard here, there is a grave there. But at this point, I think more of it, is based on what was said at the TRRC. But as a member of the task force, I cannot confirm what Oya or Malick {junglers] said regarding where they have buried these persons exactly.
I think of these graves, particularly the well that junglers kept mentioning during their testimonies at the TRRC, I think it is said to be somewhere in Casamance, a border between the Gambia and Senegal, which I think a lot of bilateral talks with the government of Senegal needs to be done, to see how best the Gambia can access them. Gambia cannot just go and enter Senegalese jurisdiction and start digging graves, so, we have to get permission to be able to get access to those graves. But at this point, political will – needs to be there, and government needs to be committed.
I know the government is committed to setting up this task force. But also, a broader commitment has to be made with the leadership of our country to be able to start conversations with the leadership of Senegal – or the foreign ministers of the two countries start the conversations to ensure these graves are identified because they are not in our jurisdiction.
Aisha: What other challenges do you anticipate?
Ok, the challenges we anticipate as a task force to be quite honest, are very huge. Knowing how complex forensics…….. having gone through forensic training, I know it takes a lot of investment to be able to set up a proper forensic system in a country. It takes a lot of resources, time, energy, and commitment to be able to get a standard forensic lab. And that if you would ask me if the government makes that investment, I would say I think they do. For example, the forensic academic in Guatemala is one organization that helps other countries that don’t have the capacity. But whether or not, they have the resources to even bring those on board is a question that we really need to ask.
So, there would be a lot of challenges because setting up the task force is one thing, but the next set the task force would go to another thing, such as the resources, and expertise involved. And a forensic is not cheap, just a test is being done. Getting samples from bones is expensive and getting equipment and getting one forensic lab test being conducted on the family is expensive. I think, it only takes a lot of work, hard work not just taking the box work but a lot of hard work. It also needs a lot of investment to be able to attain that. So, in the long run, to be quite honest I know, there will be a lot of challenges, unless the government is committed to ensuring that we have all these systems in place to be able to get there.
Finally, I know we came a long way starting the process with the TRRC. I couldn’t just conclude this conversation without thanking the journalists for their reports, especially Foroyaa newspaper who had really supported the victims of enforced disappearances, because I for one knew a lot of things or get interacted with a lot of victims because of Foroyaa. I think, without the journalists’ reports, we would not be able to get news of our loved ones.
I would urge my fellow victims not to give up on hope, because at some point, we all lose hope to say we would never know about what happened to our loved ones. But the TRRC and journalists made it possible. Testimonies at the TRRC had really shown us that this is what happened to our family members. So, we had passed all the difficult stages and are now in the process of looking for their {graves}. I think, we still need to be resilient and fight for what we truly believe in, which is getting justice at the end of the day. Personally, I’m a true believer in not giving up on anything that I invest my time and energy in. And this is the same thing I would tell victims not to give up on hope. Let’s keep fighting and ensuring that justice is achieved since these remains of loved ones mean a lot to us. I think the {remains of missing persons} deserve a proper and befitting burial as Muslims and Christians. We really need to be there for them and ensure we also conclude that process; and be able to at least show their kids, mothers, fathers, sisters, uncles, and aunties’ graves of their loved ones, so that we could go back there and pray for them. I know my father was killed {by junglers} and somebody else would feel your daughter or son was killed but can we really say this is where your son or daughter was buried? No, I can’t tell you this is where my father was buried, because I don’t know where he was buried. Let’s keep up the fight to ensure remains of loved ones are located and given to us for proper burial. At this point, this is my message to all victims of the then dictatorship of Jammeh.
Foroyaa: Thank you very much, Aisha for granting Foroyaa this special interview.
