Gambia to pay victims of Yahya Jammeh's rule from proceeds of his seized US mansion

The Gambia will use funds received from the US from the forfeiture of long-time ruler Yahya Jammeh's property to pay victims of his rule, authorities have said.

The Gambia's Reparations Commission said it received $2.5m (£1.86m) from the sale of a mansion in Maryland owned by former leader of the West African nation.

The US had in 2022 secured the right to sell the property on grounds that it was acquired through "criminal proceeds and misappropriated Gambian public funds".

Jammeh ruled The Gambia for more than 20 years after taking over in a coup in 1994 - a time marked by allegations of human rights abuses forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

On Tuesday, the Gambia Reparations Commission said it was "pleased to inform victims, survivors and the public that it has received a total of $2,573,414.10" from the sale of Jammeh's property.

It said it was committed to ensuring the funds were managed responsibly and transparently, "with due regard to the rights and needs of victims and survivors".

Jammeh lost to Adama Barrow in the election of 2016, first accepting defeat and then rejecting the results.

He eventually stepped down in 2017 amid intense regional and international pressure.

Troops from several West African nations, including Senegal, had been deployed to The Gambia, threatening to drive Jammeh out of office.

In the end he agreed to step down and went into exile Equatorial Guinea.

A national commission then discovered that the former president had 281 properties in The Gambia, as well as the one in the US and one in Morocco, and controlled more than 100 bank accounts.

There was no way that he could have afforded this on his salary and it concluded that he had misappropriated more than $300m.

Jammeh is accused of presiding over the murder of political opponents, disappearances, rape and torture.

A commission of inquiry found that widespread abuses had resulted in the death of "240-250 Gambians and non-Gambians at the hands of the state or its agents".