By Omar Bah
Reed Brody, the American human rights lawyer famous for hunting dictators and bringing them to justice, has said that with pressure from Ecowas, Equatorial Guinea will struggle to refuse to comply with the request for the extradition of former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh.
Since his ouster from power in 2017, Jammeh has been living in exile in Equatorial Guinea.
In 2018, the central African country’s president Teodoro Obiang Nguema reiterated his commitment to protect Jammeh.
He stated at the time: “I believe that the stance of protecting former heads of state is a correct one. I hail Alpha Condé who told me he will not accept any demand for Yahya Jammeh’s extradition. Even I will not accept it. We are in full agreement that Yahya Jammeh must be protected. He must be respected as a former African leader. Because this is a guarantee for other African leaders that they will not be harassed after they leave power.”
But speaking in an exclusive interview with The Standard yesterday following Ecowas’s approval of a hybrid court to try Jammeh, Mr Brody said the establishment of the court in The Gambia, supported by regional nations affected by Jammeh’s regime, would create significant political pressure on Equatorial Guinea to comply with extradition requests.
He said the international legal obligations under treaties like the UN Convention Against Torture would further complicate Equatorial Guinea’s ability to shield Jammeh from prosecution.
“The genius of creating a court with Ecowas, however, is that it harnesses the firepower of many West African countries who lost citizens in the 2005 massacre of migrants by Jammeh’s Junglers, including Ghana, which lost some 44 citizens, Nigeria, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal, whose territory was also used as a dumping ground for some of Jammeh’s victims. When a court speaking not just for The Gambia, but for all of West Africa, requests Jammeh’s transfer, it will be hard even for Obiang to refuse,” he said.
Reed added: “I have heard people saying that there is no extradition treaty between The Gambia and Equatorial Guinea, but that is wrong on two counts. First, both countries have ratified the UN Convention Against Torture, which explicitly sets out that as between states parties, the convention serves as the legal basis for extradition in respect of torture. More importantly, it is not The Gambia which will be requesting Jammeh’s transfer, but the special tribunal, which has its own international legal personality.”
The respected international lawyer said work has to begin on funding and establishing the tribunal. “Agreeing on the contours of the tribunal, writing the statute, and getting it approved by Ecowas, was the easy part, and that took three years. The hard part will be funding the tribunal, which will cost tens of millions of dollars, finding the staff, and getting it up and running,” he added.
However, Reed expressed his optimism that if The Gambia continues to show political will, its friends in the international community, who have rightly been impressed with its transitional justice programme, especially the TRRC, will be ready to help.
