Sanna Manjang, the former lieutenant colonel who commanded the Gambian paramilitary unit known as the Junglers — a group the United Nations has accused of extrajudicial killings and torture — appeared before a military court in Banjul on desertion charges. The charge: absence from the armed forces for a continuous period of nine years with the intention of deserting. Manjang fled The Gambia in 2017 after President Yahya Jammeh's 20-year rule ended, was arrested in Senegal last November, and was repatriated a month later. The desertion trial is the fallback. In July, four counts of murder were dropped against Manjang — including the 2004 killing of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara and a separate decapitation — because The Gambia could not summon witnesses, some of whom were allegedly fellow death squad members. That collapse is the real story. A state that cannot compel its own former paramilitaries to testify against each other has not yet broken the chain of impunity. The Gambia's Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission documented between 240 and 250 state killings under Jammeh, alongside widespread torture, kidnappings, and witch hunts. The TRRC produced a credible record. Translating that record into courtroom convictions is a different problem — one that requires functioning witness protection, prosecutorial capacity, and political will that outlasts any single administration. Several of Jammeh's accomplices, including other Junglers, have been detained and sentenced abroad in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States under universal jurisdiction statutes. The international track record contrasts sharply with domestic proceedings. Foreign courts had the infrastructure and distance from local power networks to secure convictions. Banjul does not. Manjang still faces a separate ongoing trial for the assault of two men. But the shift from murder to desertion and assault charges represents a steep narrowing of accountability. A commander credibly accused of multiple extrajudicial killings is being tried for leaving his post. The charge is legally valid — he did desert — but it is not commensurate with the documented conduct. President Adama Barrow's government has pursued transitional justice, but the institutional capacity gap is widening. Witnesses scatter, memories degrade, and political incentives to revisit the Jammeh era diminish with each election cycle. Former Jungler members who could testify have reasons — ranging from self-preservation to ongoing loyalty — to stay silent. Without external prosecutorial support, the domestic system is outmatched by the networks it aims to dismantle. The Gambia's trajectory matters beyond its borders. West African states watching this process are calibrating their own expectations for post-authoritarian accountability. If the model is: truth commission produces a record, foreign courts handle the heaviest cases, and domestic courts manage lesser charges for the worst offenders — that is a template with severe limitations.
