Gambian Jammeh-era victims seek ‘real justice’ beyond reparations

Those who suffered abuses under Jammeh say the ex-leader now comfortably in exile must be held accountable for crimes.

Banjul, The Gambia – Yusupha Mbye’s mother pushes his wheelchair slowly across the tiled compound of their home in Kanifing, about 11km (seven miles) from The Gambia’s capital, Banjul. The late-afternoon sun hangs low as she pauses to straighten a wrap over his legs, stopping briefly to catch her breath.

“He has been in this wheelchair since he was a teenager,” she told Al Jazeera, wiping away tears. “Twenty-six years later, I am still caring for him.”

Mbye, now 42, was just 17 when Gambian paramilitary officers opened fire on students protesting against police brutality in April 2000. At least 14 people were killed and scores were injured in one of the darkest episodes of former president Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule.

Mbye survived, but the bullet that struck him caused permanent damage to his spinal cord, leaving him unable to walk.

“I am depressed at this stage of my life,” he told Al Jazeera, reflecting on how that single moment decades ago shapes and restricts his life.