Ex-Gambia ruler looted coffers before exiting
BANJUL, GAMBIA — Exiled Gambian ruler Yahya Jammeh stole millions of dollars in his final weeks in power, plundering the country ’s state coffers and shipping luxury vehicles by c argo plane, a special adviser for the new president said Sunday.
Meanwhile, a regional military force worked to secure the tiny West African nation so that the democratically elected president, Adama Barrow, could return home after taking the oath of office in neighboring Senegal on Thursday because of concerns for his safety.
At a press conference in the Senegalese capital late Sunday, Barrow’s special adviser Mai Ahmad Fatt y told journalists that the president “will return home as soon as possible.”
Underscoring the challenges facing the new administration, Fatty confirmed that Jammeh made off with more t h a n $ 1 1 .4 mi l l i o n during a two-week period alone. That is only what they have discovered so far after Jammeh and his family took an offer of exile after more than 22 years in power and departed late Saturday.
“The Gambia is in financ ial di st re ss. The coffers are virtually empty. That is a state of fact,” Fatty said. “It has been confirmed by technicians in the ministry of finance and the Central Bank of the Gambia.”
Fatty also confirmed that a Chadian cargo plane had transported luxury goods out of the country on Jammeh’s behalf i n hi s f i nal hours in power, including an unknown number of vehicles.
Fatty said officials with the new government “regret the situation” and would stop any additional belongings of Jammeh from leaving Gambia. It appeared, though, that the major damage had been done, leaving the new government with little recourse to recoup the funds.
The unpredictable Jammeh, known for startling declarations like his claim that bananas and herbal rubs could cure AIDS, went into exile under mounting international pressure, with a wave to supporters as soldiers wept. He i s now in Equatorial Guinea, home to Africa’s longest-serving ruler and not a state party to the International Criminal Court.
Jammeh’s dramatic aboutface on his election loss to Barrow, at first conceding and then challenging the vote, appeared to be the final straw for the international community, which had been alarmed by his moves in recent years to declare an Islamic republic and leave the Commonwealth and the ICC.
B a r r o w ’s a d v i s e r d i s - avowed a joint declaration issued after Jammeh’s departure by the United Nations, African Union and West African regional bloc ECOWAS that bestowed a number of protections upon Jammeh, his family and his associates — including the assurance that their lawful assets would not be seized.
“As far as we’re concerned, it doesn’t exist,” Fatty said.
The declaration also said Jammeh’s exile was “temporary” and that he reserved the right to return to Gambia at the timing of his choosing.
Although the declaration was written to provide Jammeh with maximum protection, it doesn’t give him an amnesty, according to international human rights lawyer Reed Brody.
“Under international law in fact you can’t amnesty certain crimes like torture and massive or systematic political killings,” he said in an email. “Depending where Jammeh ends up, though, the real obstacles to holding him accountable will be political.”
The nation of 1.9 million, which promotes itself to overseas tourists as “the Smiling Coast of Africa,” has been a major source of migrants heading to Europe because of the situation at home.