Gambia to pay victims of Yahya Jammeh's rule from proceeds of his seized US mansion

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   Gambia to pay victims of Yahya Jammeh's rule from proceeds of his seized US mansion

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 21, 2026Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “The Gambia will use funds received from the US from the forfeiture of long-time ruler Yahya Jammeh's property to pay victims of his rule, authorities have said. The Gambia's Reparations Commission said it received $2.5m (£1.86m) from the sale of a mansion in Maryland owned by former leader of the West African nation. The US had in 2022 secured the right to sell the property on grounds that it was acquired through "criminal proceeds and misappropriated Gambian public funds". Jammeh ruled The Gambia for more than 20 years after taking over in a coup in 1994 - a time marked by allegations of human rights abuses forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. How US mansion of Gambia's ex-president was seized On Tuesday, the Gambia Reparations Commission said it was "pleased to inform victims, survivors and the public that it has received a total of $2,573,414.10" from the sale of Jammeh's property. It said it was committed to ensuring the funds were managed responsibly and transparently, "with due regard to the rights and needs of victims and survivors". Jammeh lost to Adama Barrow in the election of 2016, first accepting defeat and then rejecting the results. He eventually stepped down in 2017 amid intense regional and international pressure. Troops from several West African nations, including Senegal, had been deployed to The Gambia, threatening to drive Jammeh out of office. In the end he agreed to step down and went into exile Equatorial Guinea.”

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   Yahya Jammeh (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaChecked Oct 21, 2026

   “Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (born 25 May 1965) is a Gambian politician and former soldier, who served as President of the Gambia from 1996 to 2017. He was the Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) from 1994 to 1996. Jammeh was born in Kanilai, in West Coast Region of the Gambia, and is a Muslim of the Jola ethnic group. He attended Gambia High School in Banjul from 1978 to 1983 and served in the Gambian National Gendarmerie from 1984 to 1989. He was then commissioned as an officer of the Gambian National Army, commanding the Military Police from 1992 to 1994. In July 1994, he came to power by leading a bloodless coup d'état that overthrew the elected government of Sir Dawda Jawara. At first ruling by decree, he was elected president in the 1996 election. Jammeh was re-elected as president in 2001, 2006 and 2011, but lost to Adama Barrow in 2016. His presidency oversaw a shift towards authoritarianism, demonstrated in particular by his policies towards anti-government journalists, LGBT+ people and opposition parties. His foreign policy led to constant difficulties with the country's sole neighbour, Senegal.”

3. 3

   The Economics of Reparations: Financial Compensation, Trust, and Transitional Justice Outcomes in the Gambia

   ACADEMIA International Journal for Social Sciences (Dampha)Published Dec 6, 2025Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “The findings reveal that reparations are positively and significantly associated with all three outcome dimensions. However, their impact on economic recovery is moderate, suggesting that compensatory transfers alone are insufficient to fully restore livelihoods. In contrast, reparations have a stronger effect on institutional trust and satisfaction with implementation, highlighting their role as a signal of state accountability and legitimacy. The results further indicate that the effects of reparations are heterogeneous, with stronger impacts observed among low-income individuals and victims with more severe experiences. The study contributes to the literature by reframing reparations as a hybrid economic and institutional policy instrument and providing one of the first micro-level empirical analyses of their effects in an African transitional justice context. The findings underscore the importance of adequate, timely, and inclusive reparations in strengthening both welfare outcomes and institutional legitimacy.”

4. 4

   Beyond money: sexual and gender-based violence and reparations in the Gambian transitional justice process

   Research paper (Jobarteh)Published Jan 1, 2025Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “During former President Yahya Jammeh's regime (1994-2017), state actors, including Jammeh himself, systematically used sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) as a tool of repression. The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission documented these abuses and amplified survivors' testimonies. Yet, reparations have largely been limited to financial compensation, neglecting survivors' urgent long-term needs, such as healthcare, psychosocial support and recognition. The Gambia's newly established Reparations Commission presents a critical opportunity to fulfil these outstanding obligations. To achieve national and international commitments, the government must prioritise SGBV survivors through comprehensive, urgent, non-financial reparations that restore dignity and confront the structural inequalities that enabled the violations. This policy paper calls for a survivor-centred, comprehensive approach to reparations that delivers urgent, non-financial reparations, including healthcare, psychosocial support and legal protection. Such measures affirm survivors' humanity, break down deep-rooted inequalities and set a precedent for transformative justice across Africa.”

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   From Recovery to Controversy: Institutional Failure and the Politics of Asset Disposal in Post-Jammeh Gambia (2017–2026).

   International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (Sonko)Published Jan 1, 2026Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “This paper offers the first thorough empirical analysis of the post-Commission asset recovery process, drawing from the 2019 White Paper and the 324-page Final Report of a Special Select Committee of The Gambia's National Assembly (March 2026). It contends that a deep-rooted administrative pathology that persisted through the political shift and methodically undermined each step of the forfeiture and disposal process was the primary cause of the failure of asset recovery rather than a failure of the law. The evidence shows that the promise of accountability has been largely unfulfilled due to an implementation gap caused by a number of factors, including disjointed custodial arrangements, flawed valuation and sales procedures, systematic violations of public finance law, catastrophic record-keeping failures, and lax parliamentary oversight. In order to explain how institutional culture, not just legal frameworks, can sustain impunity and mismanagement even after political transition, the paper develops the concept of "administrative pathology" and provides practical suggestions for bolstering asset recovery mechanisms in fragile democracies.”

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   Reparations in transitional societies

   Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks (Moffett)Published Aug 11, 2023Checked Oct 21, 2026

   “Added to this is the challenge of delimiting those who are eligible and determining when the transition ends. This chapter examines individual and collective reparations, reparation processes and mechanisms, and evidential and financial concerns. Although public resources may be limited in providing full compensatory awards to all victims, small sums or pensions along with public acknowledgement of victims’ suffering, wrongfulness of the perpetrators and institutions’ acts, and guarantees of non-repetition, can be ‘good enough’. This chapter argues that despite the political wrangling over reparations during transition, the right to reparations in international law reflects the necessity of states to deliver reparations to victims of serious violations. Ultimately reparations often only come about because of the mobilisation and advocacy of victims, where such international norms and practice can provide waypoints on how to deliver redress but require a balance to be struck with those responsible to deliver them, which goes beyond compliance with the law.”