\n Gambia's President-elect Adama Barrow vowed Thursday to set up a South Africa-style truth commission as he claimed the army's support after his surprise election in the west African nation.\n<\/p>\n
\n Barrow, whose shock victory this month ended the 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh, said the country's chief of the defence staff had called to pledge the army's backing.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He said the security of this nation is assured by the armed forces,\" said the 51-year-old estate agent. \"He said he was loyal to President Yahya (Jammeh) because he was the elected president.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He said now that I am elected in to office by the Gambian people, he will support me,\" he added.\n<\/p>\n
\n Barrow was elected as president of the smallest country in West Africa after he beat incumbent President Yahya Jammeh in the December 1 polls.\n<\/p>\n
\n Asked if he will prosecute those accused of human rights violations over the last 22 years, Barrow said: \"We will look at what was happening in the past.\n<\/p>\n
\n A \"Truth and Reconciliation Commission is very important here and we have seen it happened in South Africa. We will establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look at the past.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN envoy to West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambers said last week that the United Nations will help the incoming government to establish such a commission.\n<\/p>\n
\n Barrow said he had not yet met the outgoing president, but said his officials were working on the arrangements.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This transition issue is a new thing in Gambia and both teams (the ruling party and opposition) are not experienced on it,\" he said, adding that he hoped to set a date for his inauguration \"very soon.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Latest official figures gave Barrow 43.29 percent of the votes in the presidential election, while Jammeh took 39.64 percent. The turnout was at 59 percent.\n<\/p>\n
\n Meanwhile Thursday a Gambian appeal court granted bail to 11 political activists detained since April for holding rare protests, a judicial source said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Their lawyer Antouman Gaye noted that they were members of the United Democratic Party (UDP), of which Barrow was the presidential candidate.\n<\/p>\n
\n UDP founder and leader Ousainou Darboe, who was jailed in July for taking part in a protest, was freed on bail with 18 others on Monday, as part of their ongoing appeal against three-year sentences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gambia's President-elect Adama Barrow vowed Thursday to set up a South Africa-style truth commission as he claimed the army's support after his surprise election in the west African nation. Barrow, whose shock victory this month ended the 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh, said the country's chief of the defence staff had called to pledge the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-30988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n