By Omar Bah
At about midnight on Friday, soldiers at the Yundum Barracks and probably their seniors in or outside the barracks, got more than they bargained for a restful weekend when a one-time powerful colleague of theirs turned up from eight years of hibernation.
Accused of gross human rights abuses and membership of the notorious Junglers of former dictator Jammeh, General Bora Colley was promptly arrested and is being held at the barracks, a statement from the Gambia Armed Forces said.
GAF said it had conducted surveillance operations around his residence.
“Further information on how the ex-general entered into the country and for how long he has been in The Gambia, among other issues, will be shared with the public in due course,” the army statement said.
Bora is believed to have fled the country in January 2017 to Equatorial Guinea.
When contacted for comments on Bora’s arrest, renowned international human rights lawyer, Reed Brody, said: “Bora Colley could of course be brought before the Special Criminal Division of the High Court or, when it is created, the Ecowas hybrid tribunal. But in any event, there is no vacuum. The courts of The Gambia have jurisdiction.”
Meanwhile, reaction among the Gambian community to the latest development has been coming thick and fast with many suggesting that the slow pace of the transitional justice system and the implementation of the TRRC recommendations means that more people who fled the country initially afraid of serious acceptability would now muster the courage to return especially after seeing their fellow alleged perpetrators walking free.
The Standard tried the Minister of Justice Dawda Jallow for comments on the state of the transitional justice and the fate of the alleged junglers in general but he did not respond to our requests.
