The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) has concluded its first session of hearings with Omar Jallow’s gripping testimony of his torture and persecution by the Jammeh dictatorship.

The executive secretary of the TRRC, Baba Galleh Jallow, said the preliminary session was to hear cases relating to the 22nd July 1994 military takeover that brought Yahya Jammeh and his Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) to power.

“Among the key objectives of the first session were to understand the context within which the coup happened including the circumstances surrounding the creation of the Gambian security services, the various roles played by key state institutions in creating underlying factors leading up to the coup, how and why the coup was planned, how the coup unfolded on July 22, 1994, how the coup leadership was constituted, and what happened to key players both within the military council and in the ousted PPP government and its supporters and sympathizers in the immediate aftermath of the coup. All these factors and others are indispensable to the reconstruction of a coherent historical narrative of human rights violations that occurred during the TRRC’s mandate period, July 22, 1994 to January 2017.”

Jallow clarified on the concerns of some Gambians that the first session was closed without hearing from the alleged perpetrators who were named during the proceedings.

“We wish to assure the general public that moving on to another session does not mean the TRRC will never deal with what happened during and immediately after July 22nd 1994 again. We may have passed the first session, but every individual who has testified or have been adversely mentioned remains part of the TRRC process.

“As per the provisions of the TRRC Act, the commission may invite, summon or subpoena any individual they wish to testify. These invitations, summons or subpoenas need not happen during any particular session of the hearings as outlined in our work plan. In short, moving on to the next session and subsequent ones does not preclude the possibility of witnesses and victims from July 22nd 1994 and its immediate aftermath from testifying. It should also be noted that some of these alleged perpetrators will inevitably be mentioned in at least a few more future testimonies. The public can rest assured that at some point during this process, some of those who have been or will in future be adversely mentioned will be invited, summoned, or subpoenaed to appear before the commission. We do not rule out the possibility that some may voluntarily come forward to testify.”

Jallow also responded to the question of psychological support for victims and witnesses adding that the Commission would continue to provide support for victims and witnesses at every stage of the process.

“Our Victims Support Unit now has two psychosocial support workers who, in collaboration with the Women’s Affairs and Research and Investigations units, talk to all witnesses who need it before, during and after their testimonies. This is an area of vital importance to our work and we will be doing all we can to improve the psychosocial support services available to witnesses moving forward. Other means of having therapeutic public conversations on dealing with trauma induced by witness testimonies are being actively explored.”

Jallow said the second session of hearings focusing on the November 11, 1994 incident will begin on 11 February 2019 and ends on 28 February 2019. He urged all witnesses and victims of human rights violations related to the November 11 incident to contact the TRRC headquarters at Dunes Resort, Kololi to give their statements. He stated that the TRRC would offer modest reimbursement of transportation and other minor expenses to witnesses and victims travelling from other parts of the country to give their statements.

Meanwhile, the TRRC will issue a separate update on their ongoing outreach activities and Never Again campaign in the near future.