01 March 2017•Update: 01 March 2017
By Mustapha K. Darboe
BANJUI, Gambia
The UN is ready to help Gambia in ensuring justice for victims of the past regime if the country requests, the global body's undersecretary for political affairs, Jeffrey Feltman told journalists in capital Banjui on Wednesday.
Feltman, who arrived in the western African country on Tuesday, said the UN did not support impunity anywhere in the world.
"In our conversation with the president [Adama Barrow] and the foreign minister [Ousainou Darboe], we talked about the need for National Reconciliation, inclusivity and the need for accounting for past problems and for justice to crimes.
"The UN is not supportive of impunity for significant crimes anywhere in the world," Feltman said.
The undersecretary stressed, however, that their role is "defined, in large measure, by what the government requests".
"We are still in conversation with the government about where they see the UN’s role."
Since the defeat of Gambia’s former leader Yahya Jammeh in a December election by current President Adama Barrow, and his subsequent exile to Equatorial Guinea, a handful of his security men accused of killings and torture have been arrested.
The Barrow administration has said it will emphasise reconciliation instead of prosecution but he told Anadolu Agency in an interview last week that they would ensure people account for the crimes they committed under the past regime.
