Former ‘death squad’ leader appears in military trial in The Gambia 

The former head of the Gambian paramilitary unit known as the “Junglers” has appeared in a military court to face charges of desertion.

Sanna Manjang is accused of deserting the armed forces when the lieutenant colonel fled the country in 2017 after the end of the 20-year rule of President Yahya Jammeh.

The case in the capital, Banjul, marks another official bid at accountability for killings which happened when Jammeh was in power, after a murder case against Manjang was dropped in July.

He is facing trial for an absence of “a continuous period of nine years with the intention of deserting”. Manjang was arrested in Senegal last November and was repatriated to The Gambia a month later.

The Junglers armed group, which operated independently from the Gambian army, has long been accused by the United Nations of extrajudicial killings and torture.

Longtime leader Jammeh was forced into exile after losing power in 2016 to Adama Barrow, then opposition leader and now president.

Following Jammeh’s departure, the country established the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC). It investigated alleged crimes under his rule and found that between 240 and 250 people were killed by the state. It also found evidence of widespread extrajudicial killings, torture, kidnappings, witch hunts and other abuses.

Several of Jammeh’s accomplices, including Junglers, have been detained and sentenced abroad in Germany, Switzerland and the United States.

Manjang was previously charged with four counts of murder, including that of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004, but the charges were dropped in July as The Gambia struggled to summon witnesses, some allegedly members of the death squad.

In addition to Hydara’s shooting, Manjang was accused of killing three other men, including one he personally decapitated.

After the charges were dropped, Manjang was charged separately for the assault of two other men in an ongoing trial.