Africa
Ex-member of former Gambia dictator’s military unit is on trial in the US for torture
Opening statements are expected Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of torturing political opponents of Gambia’s former military dictator Yahya Jammeh nearly 20 years ago, the latest international trial tied to his regime.
Federal prosecutors invoked a rarely used law that allows people to be tried in the U.S. judicial system for torture allegedly committed abroad.
Michael Sang Correa, a citizen of Gambia, was indicted in 2020 while living in the United States. He is charged with being part of a conspiracy to mentally and physically torture people suspected of involvement in a failed 2006 coup in Gambia.
Prosecutors say Correa was part of a military unit known as the “Junglers” that reported directly to Jammeh. They say he and his alleged co-conspirators allegedly kicked and beat detainees using pipes and wires, sometimes covering the victims’ heads with plastic bags, and also administering electric shocks to their bodies, including their genitals.
His attorneys plan to argue that Correa was coerced to participate and acted under duress, according to court filings. Prosecutors and the defense have agreed that there is information indicating that members of the Junglers who did not carry out Jammeh’s orders without question would be killed.
Jammeh was a 22-year dictator of Gambia, a country surrounded by Senegal except for a small Atlantic coastline, and was accused of ordering opponents tortured, jailed and killed. He lost a presidential election and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after initially refusing to step down.
Correa came to the U.S. to serve as a bodyguard for Jammeh in December 2016, but he remained and overstayed his visa after Jammeh was ousted, according to prosecutors. Since sometime after 2016, Correa had been living in Denver and working as a day laborer, they said.
According to Human Rights Watch, Correa is the third person to be tried under a U.S. law that allows people to be charged with committing torture abroad. The two others who have been previously tried were both U.S. citizens and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.
Charles “Chuckie” Taylor, Jr., the son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, was convicted in 2008 in connection with torture committed in Liberia from 1997 to 2003.
In 2023, Ross Roggio of Pennsylvania was convicted of torturing an employee in Iraq while being accused of operating an illegal manufacturing plant in Kurdistan.
Other countries have also prosecuted those tied to Jammeh’s regime.
Last year, Jammeh’s former interior minister was sentenced to 20 years behind bars by a Swiss court for crimes against humanity. In 2023, a German court convicted a Gambian man who was also a member of the Junglers of murder and crimes against humanity for involvement in the killing of government critics in Gambia.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu following serious allegations made by General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, a top police official. Mkhwanazi accused Mchunu and Deputy Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya of interfering in sensitive investigations and colluding with criminal syndicates.
The suspension comes amid growing concern over alleged political interference within key law enforcement agencies. President Ramaphosa announced the decision publicly, stating, “In order for the Commission to execute its functions effectively, I have decided to put the Minister of Police Mr Senzo Mchunu on a leave of absence with immediate effect. The Minister has undertaken to give his full cooperation to the Commission to enable it to work properly.”
Ramaphosa has appointed Professor Firoz Cachalia as acting Minister of Police. Meanwhile, Mkhwanazi further alleged that Mchunu and Sibiya disbanded a critical crime-fighting unit that was investigating a string of politically motivated killings. These killings were reportedly linked to organized criminal networks.
The President also outlined the scope of the inquiry. “The Commission will investigate the role of current or former senior officials in certain institutions who may have aided or abetted the alleged criminal activity; or failed to act on credible intelligence or internal warnings; or benefited financially or politically from a syndicate’s operations,” Ramaphosa said.
Opposition parties have criticized the President for not taking stronger action. They argue that placing Mchunu on leave falls short of accountability and have called for his immediate dismissal instead.
The electoral process for Gabon’s local and legislative elections is officially underway.
The timetable for the September 27 vote has been announced and members of the national election commission have been sworn in by the Constitutional Court.
The revision of electoral rolls across the country begins on July 14 and continues until August 12. This will ensure new voters are added and deceased or ineligible voters removed from the rolls. It will also register any changes of voting centre and update personal data.
People aged 18 and over with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) are automatically registered and need only choose their polling center.
Local electoral commissions will be set up by July 26 and deployed across the country and abroad.
Nominations for the legislative and local elections are open from July 27 to August 7.
Fifth Republic
The Ministry of the Interior and national election commission reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring “credible, transparent and peaceful” elections, and called on citizens to play an active part in building the Fifth Republic.
Last week, two years after seizing power in a coup, President Brice Oligui Nguema unveiled a new political party, the Democratic Union of Builders, or UDB. Oligui secured nearly 95 percent of the vote in April’s presidential election.
The launch of the UDB appears to signal Oligui’s intent to transition from military leader to long-term political figure. While he initially presented himself as a reformer leading a transitional government, the creation of a political party gives structure to his leadership and a platform for future governance.
Forty-four people in Nigeria have been sentenced to up to 30 years in prison for financing the jihadist militant group Boko Haram. The trials of 10 other people have been postponed, the country’s counter-terrorism agency said on Saturday.
The defendants appeared before four specially constituted courts set up on a military base in the town of Kanji, in the central state of Niger.
The sentences ranged from 10 to 30 years, all with hard labour, a spokesperson said. Nigeria has been conducting mass trials for terrorism-related offences since 2017 and has secured convictions against 785, official sources say.
Violent insurgency
Boko Haram’s campaign of violence began in northeastern Nigeria in 2002 and has since spread to neighboring countries including Cameroon, Chad and Niger, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions. The strict Wahabbi group opposes the Westernisation of Nigeria, which it blames for the country corruption.
Its tactics include suicide bombings and armed assaults, including an attack on the UN building in Abuja.
In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Chibok and burned down a government college, killing dozens of schoolboys who were trapped inside.
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