Gambian exiled former dictator tells supporters: 'I'm coming back'

Banjul, Gambia – The Gambia’s former dictator Yahya Jammeh has said he intends to take back control of his political party and declared he is “coming back”, in an audio message obtained by AFP on Thursday.

An image grab taken on December 3, 2016 from a video of the Gambia and Television Services (GRTS) broadcasted on December 2, 2016, in Banjul shows outgoing Gambian President Yahya Jammeh speaking during a press conference after being defeated during the presidential election. Jammeh conceded defeat to opposition leader Adama Barrow on December 2, 2016 accepting that Gambians had “decided that I should take the backseat”. The Gambia’s President-elect Adama Barrow was to hold talks with his coalition the day after to plot his transition to power, following a shock election victory that ended the 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh. (Photo by Handout / GRTS – Gambia Radio and Television Services / AFP)

He ruled the tiny west African nation for 22 years, presiding over a regime accused of carrying out torture, using death squads and many other abuses.

Jammeh has been in exile in Equatorial Guinea since 2017 when he lost an election to current President Adama Barrow, but he still has many supporters in his home country and often weighs in on its politics.

“Today, I have decided to take over my party myself and will not entrust it to anyone again,” Jammeh said in an audio message sent to his supporters from the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) on Wednesday.

“Whether anybody likes it or not, by the grace of Allah, I am coming back.”

Jammeh’s announcement came a month after regional bloc ECOWAS backed the creation of a special hybrid court to judge crimes committed during his rule.

The Gambian government in 2022 endorsed the recommendations of a commission that looked into atrocities perpetrated under Jammeh, with authorities agreeing to prosecute 70 people including the former president, who came to power following a 1994 coup.

“Let those threatening me with jail wait until I arrive. A day of accountability is coming and it will be a day of reckoning,” the ex-dictator said.

Jammeh founded the APRC in 1996 and the party still holds significant influence in The Gambia.

Current president Barrow won a second term in 2021 after his party announced a pact with the APRC, which many viewed as a ploy to court Jammeh supporters.

An English-speaking nation of two million people that is continental Africa’s smallest country, The Gambia is among the world’s 20 least developed states, according to the United Nations.