The prospect of trying former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh has been strengthened by plans for a court backed by the regional political organisation ECOWAS. But there is a catch: how to get him out of his protected exile in Equatorial Guinea? Equatorial Guinean lawyer Lucas Olo Fernandes explains how that country agreed to take Jammeh after his fall and what factors have prevented his extradition so far.
Since 2017, former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has been in exile in Equatorial Guinea. On 22 January 2025, he said he wanted to return to his country and his possible trial in The Gambia now seems more likely. Announcements of a possible return have always existed, but what role does Equatorial Guinea play and what would motivate Jammeh’s extradition to The Gambia?
Jammeh arrived in Equatorial Guinea after Gambia’s disputed 2016 presidential elections, when the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional political union, forced him to resign. The president of Guinea-Conakry at the time, Alpha Condé, was the current president of the African Union. He interceded for Obiang to accept Jammeh after his fall. It is even believed that Condé was on the plane that took Jammeh out of Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. By offering Jammeh a golden exile, Equatorial Guinea consolidated its position as an important ally of Ecowas.
Equatorial Guinea had little relationship with The Gambia, but its President Teodoro Obiang saw it as a good opportunity to gain the trust of other African countries, and even to present himself as a leader supporting a democratic transition, although he himself has been in power since 1979, having won elections with an average of 95% of the vote according to official results that have always been questioned by international institutions. Since Equatorial Guinea began actively exploiting oil in the mid-1990s, its African agenda has grown exponentially, especially in the area of security.
Equatorial Guinea’s problematic record
Equatorial Guinea, with a $20 million donation to the AU, has built the headquarters of the Committee on African Intelligence and Security Services (CISSA), an agency that aims to coordinate the intelligence agencies of African countries. Several of the latter did indeed collaborate with the intelligence services of Equatorial Guinea during these years. This is the case of Togo, also a member of ECOWAS, where several of Obiang’s political opponents have been arrested and transferred to Malabo. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called on Equatorial Guinea and Togo to release some of the detainees and open an investigation into the circumstances of their detention. In South Sudan, four Equatorial Guinean political dissidents were also kidnapped in 2019 and taken to Malabo. One of them died in prison after being tortured. In all these cases, political opponents were arrested for an alleged coup attempt.
In 2017, the president’s son, who is also the country’s vice president, was convicted of corruption in Paris and Equatorial Guinea sued France at the International Court of Justice on the grounds that the seized assets and the accused enjoyed diplomatic immunity. In this procedure, Equatorial Guinea argued, without judicial success, that France’s actions were directed against the African continent. This argument worked best in African contexts and managed to blur the underlying corruption case, moving Equatorial Guinea from the role of culprit to that of neocolonial victim.
In 2017, elections were held in Equatorial Guinea and the results were validated by AU observers. With Equatorial Guinea playing an important role at the regional level and in the African Union’s Peace and Security Council through the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), African institutions are unlikely to question its internal political situation. In fact, Equatorial Guinea was elected by the African Union to one of the rotating seats of the United Nations Security Council, a position it held for the period 2018-2019. This was a first in the country’s history, which gave it additional international legitimacy.
Lessons from Charles Taylor
It is difficult to know the exact position of the Equatorial Guinean authorities towards Jammeh. He looks like a ghost guest. The majority of the population does not know that Jammeh is in the country or, if they do, they are not interested. It is believed to be in the remote geographical area of Mongomo which, although very luxurious, is in the far east of the country, right on the border with Gabon. It has rarely been seen. His activities are unknown and the government has not opened a debate in parliament or in any public institution on whether to receive or hand him over. In Equatorial Guinea, there is no independent media and the existing media have not mentioned his situation, probably because it is a subject forbidden to the media.
Following the political developments in The Gambia and the request to try him, from Equatorial Guinea’s point of view, the only possibility would be to agree on a convention to extradite Jammeh, given that there is no extradition treaty between the two countries. It is understood, however, that this decision could only be taken by President Obiang. Several visits by Gambian government officials have taken place in Malabo, but they have not resulted in specific actions towards Jammeh, although trade agreements and the establishment of diplomatic relations have been signed.
According to some, Obiang would not be willing to hand over Jammeh because it would set a dangerous precedent where a former president in exile can be used as a bargaining chip for geostrategic interests. One of the few precedents is the case of the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor. Taylor was the subject of an arrest warrant from the UN-sponsored Special Court for Sierra Leone for crimes against humanity. It took the Nigerian government three years to hand over Taylor, after an alleged dubious attempt to escape by Taylor, after the new Liberian government led by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf formally requested his extradition, and under pressure from the United States. The surrender was used as a tool of political publicity by Nigerian President Obasanjo, and Liberia immediately sent Taylor to the UN tribunal. In Jammeh’s case, there is no demand for surrender from the Gambian government, nor is there any direct pressure from Ecowas or the United Nations for his surrender.
Voluntary return or extradition?
The possibility that Jammeh will return voluntarily cannot be ruled out, as many of his cronies who were also in Equatorial Guinea have done. When he recently announced his return to the country, he said he had officially taken over the leadership of his party. It has been said that Jammeh was not quite comfortable in Equatorial Guinea, being far from his country and relatives. In Equatorial Guinea, the language spoken is Spanish, but in the region where Jammeh is located, people usually only speak Fang, a local language. There are also very few mosques in this region – the country is predominantly Catholic – while Jammeh is known for his devotion to the Qur’an. The international status of an aging Obiang and the possibility of being sent back to Gambia against his will could encourage Jammeh to opt for a dignified voluntary return or seek another host country.
A surrender is less likely in the absence of stronger international pressure that would have to come from the Ecowas bloc, the AU and the UN. However, this possibility has been complicated by a weakened Ecowas bloc after the withdrawal of three of its members (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) announced in January 2024, a weak African Union and a divided UN Security Council. One might think that the level of corruption, a human development index that does not correspond to the country’s wealth, or the deep democratic shortcomings of Equatorial Guinea are obvious factors of instability. Hence the arrival of Russian military personnel in Malabo and the government’s constant interest in security issues in the broad sense, due to the permanent fear of possible attacks or coups in a country coveted for its oil wealth. And there are fears that Jammeh’s extradition will set a precedent that could apply to the current regime’s leaders if they find themselves in a similar situation.
Lucas Olo Fernandes is a lawyer from Equatorial Guinea, an expert in governance and human rights. He worked for many years for Transparency International as Regional Coordinator for Central Africa in 2012 and Acting Internal Director General in 2016. He works on a variety of human rights and governance initiatives focused on Equatorial Guinea. He is the secretary general of the Equatorial Guinean Commission of Jurists.
