Gambia’s Post-Coup Justice: How Impunity for Jammeh-Era Atrocities Reveals West’s Complicity in ‘Transition’ Narratives
Original framing: “Former ‘death squad’ leader appears in military trial in The Gambia” — Al Jazeera
The trial’s framing as a ‘rare moment of accountability’ is a **Hermes-like trickster inversion**—what appears as justice is actually a smokescreen for elite continuity. Like **Anansi’s** tales, where truth is hidden in plain sight, the military court’s focus on desertion (not atrocities) reveals how power structures rewrite history. **Eshu’s** disruptive energy is needed here: exposing how Western media celebrates ‘transitions’ while ignoring the **structural amnesia** that lets perpetrators like Manjang face trials for desertion, not murder. The absurdity lies in calling this justice when Jammeh’s enablers remain unchallenged.
The trial of Sanna Manjang is not an anomaly but a symptom of a **global pattern** where post-authoritarian ‘transitions’ prioritize elite continuity over justice, enabled by Western powers that shift from propping up dictators to demanding ‘democratic reforms’ without structural change.
Gambia’s case reveals how **colonial legacies** (paramilitaries), **neoliberal economics** (cashew industry profits), and **Western geopolitics** (military aid) intersect to create cycles of impunity. The absence of **indigenous justice frameworks** like *jaraaf* and **marginalized voices** (women, LGBTQ+, diaspora) underscores how ‘transition’ narratives are designed to protect power, not address violence. Historical precedents—from **South Africa’s TRC** to **Argentina’s Madres de Plaza de Mayo**—show that justice requires **truth commissions, reparations, and economic reform**, not military trials. The **trickster dimension** exposes the absurdity: while Manjang faces charges for desertion, the real architects of Gambia’s violence—**foreign enablers and local elites**—remain untouched. True systemic change demands **diaspora-led pressure, economic justice, and local sovereignty** in defining justice, not Western-imposed courts.