By Lamin Njie
Fabakary Tombong Jatta has said that truth commissions anywhere in the world are established out of mass murder and wholesale killing.
The APRC interim leader made this submission on Tuesday during a press conference held by the party in Tallinding.
“What we know of TRRC, Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission is not the first in The Gambia. It had happened in Ghana, it had happened in South Africa, it had happened in Rwanda and many other places. But mostly, first of all, it’s borne out of genocide, mass slaughter of people,” Jatta said.
According to the APRC interim leader, “fortunately, Gambia is a knitted country, a small country.”
“I was telling somebody if you were to knock somebody don’t knock hard because it will go round and come and affect you. For me, our reconciliation should not take the form of a truth and reconciliation style that is punishable because even in South Africa they were not punishing people,” he said.
Jatta said The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission has turned out to be a place “where anybody goes to and say what you like.”
“No challenges and it’s all against one area that’s the APRC and Yahya Jammeh,” Jatta added.
Speaking further, the APRC leader said “if you are to establish the truth, Gambia underwent a lot of challenges.”
“The number of people that died in 1981 is unprecedented – in thousands, mass graves. So what we are saying is, we want Gambia to reconcile. The things that happened cannot be undone. It’s for us to learn lessons and move forward in a positive way,” he said.
