In a Banjul military courtroom, Sanna Manjang — once the commander of The Gambia's feared Junglers paramilitary unit — now stands accused not of the killings that defined his tenure, but of the act of walking away. His nine-year desertion charge, narrower than the murder counts that collapsed in July, reflects a recurring tension in post-authoritarian justice: when the full reckoning proves unreachable, institutions pursue what they can hold. The trial is one thread in a longer, unfinished effort to account for the estimated 240 to 250 lives lost under Yahya Jammeh's two-decade rule.
Former 'Junglers' leader faces military trial in Gambia for desertion
The Junglers unit killed an estimated 240-250 people during Jammeh's rule, including journalist Deyda Hydara and three other men, with widespread torture, kidnappings, and extrajudicial killings documented.
Witnesses are reluctant or unavailable. Some are the people who carried out the orders.
Mark
Why is he being tried for desertion instead of the murders he's accused of?
Mimi
The murder charges were dropped in July because the prosecution couldn't get witnesses to testify. Some of those witnesses would have been members of the Junglers themselves—people who worked under Manjang.
Luke
So the state is saying it can't prove the murders in court, but it can prove he left the army for nine years. That's a much lower bar.
Mimi
Exactly. The desertion charge is technically simpler. You just need to show he was absent with intent. You don't need survivors or colleagues willing to speak against him.
Mark
Does this trial actually address what the Junglers did—the killings, the torture?
Mimi
Not directly. The Truth Commission documented all of that. It found 240 to 250 people were killed. But this trial is only about whether Manjang abandoned his post.
Luke
And we should be clear: the murder charges were dropped because of practical obstacles, not because the evidence wasn't there. The prosecution had identified four specific killings, including a journalist.
Mark
What about the other Junglers members? Are they being held accountable elsewhere?
Mimi
Some have been. Several were detained and sentenced in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. But inside The Gambia, the process has been slower and harder.
Luke
Which raises a question: if the military trial succeeds on the desertion charge, does that satisfy the need for accountability, or does it just move the problem around?
Mimi
That's what people are watching for. A conviction on desertion is not the same as a conviction for murder. But it's also not nothing—it keeps the case alive, keeps the pressure on.
Mark
What happens if he's convicted of desertion?
Mimi
He faces military justice. The sentence isn't yet clear, but he'll have been held accountable in some form for his role in the regime.
Luke
And if he's acquitted?
Mimi
Then the question of what the Junglers did—and who bears responsibility—remains largely unanswered in a Gambian court.
Le Pouls
- Murder charges against Manjang — including the killing of journalist Deyda Hydara — collapsed in July when prosecutors could not secure witnesses, many of whom were themselves members of the death squad.
- With the heavier charges gone, the military has pivoted to a desertion count: nine years of absence from the armed forces, a charge technically easier to prove but far removed from the scale of alleged crimes.
- Manjang was arrested in Senegal last November, extradited in December, and now faces a parallel assault case alongside the desertion trial, keeping him entangled in the justice system through multiple, narrower threads.
- Accomplices have faced stronger accountability abroad — sentenced in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States — exposing the fragility of domestic justice in The Gambia, where evidence is scattered and witnesses remain silent or unavailable.
- For the families of the 240 to 250 people killed under Jammeh's regime, the trial offers a partial measure where a full reckoning was promised — justice proceeding not where it is most needed, but where it is most possible.
In a Banjul military courtroom, Sanna Manjang — once the commander of The Gambia's feared Junglers paramilitary unit — now stands accused not of the killings that defined his tenure, but of the act of walking away. His nine-year desertion charge, narrower than the murder counts that collapsed in July, reflects a recurring tension in post-authoritarian justice: when the full reckoning proves unreachable, institutions pursue what they can hold. The trial is one thread in a longer, unfinished effort to account for the estimated 240 to 250 lives lost under Yahya Jammeh's two-decade rule.
Sanna Manjang appeared in a Banjul military courtroom this month to answer for nine years of absence — not for the killings that made his name feared, but for the act of leaving. As commander of the Junglers, a paramilitary unit that served as Yahya Jammeh's instrument of terror, Manjang sat at the center of a machinery the UN documented as responsible for extrajudicial killings and torture. When Jammeh's twenty-year rule collapsed in 2016, Manjang fled to Senegal. He did not return until he was arrested there last November and extradited a month later.
The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission had already laid out the scale of what the Junglers did: between 240 and 250 people killed by state forces, alongside kidnappings, torture, and witch hunts carried out with impunity. Manjang initially faced four murder charges, including the 2004 killing of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara and three other men. But in July, those charges were dropped. Prosecutors could not assemble the witnesses they needed — some of whom, they acknowledged, were themselves former members of the death squad.
What remains is a desertion charge: a narrower count, technically easier to prove, that keeps Manjang inside the justice system while the harder questions go unanswered. He also faces a separate assault case. Meanwhile, other Junglers accomplices have been sentenced abroad — in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States — where evidence and witnesses proved more accessible.
The trial is, in the end, what accountability looks like when the full reckoning proves impossible. It is not nothing. But for the families of those killed under Jammeh's rule, it is also not what was promised when the Truth Commission began its work.
Sanna Manjang walked into a military courtroom in Banjul this month to answer for nine years of absence from the armed forces. The former commander of the Junglers—a paramilitary unit that operated outside the regular army—had fled The Gambia in 2017, just as President Yahya Jammeh's two-decade grip on power was collapsing. Now, nearly a decade later, the state is pursuing him not for the killings the Junglers are accused of committing, but for the act of leaving.
The Junglers operated as Jammeh's instrument of terror. The United Nations documented their involvement in extrajudicial killings and torture. When the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission investigated the regime after Jammeh's fall in 2016, it found that between 240 and 250 people had been killed by state forces. The commission's work revealed a systematic pattern: not just murders, but kidnappings, torture, and witch hunts carried out with impunity. Manjang, as the unit's leader, sat at the center of this machinery.
The path to this military trial has been circuitous and incomplete. Manjang was arrested in Senegal last November and returned to The Gambia a month later. He had initially faced four counts of murder, including the 2004 killing of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara. He was also accused of murdering three other men, one of whom he allegedly decapitated. But in July, those charges were dropped. The Gambian authorities could not assemble the witnesses they needed—some of them, prosecutors acknowledged, were themselves members of the death squad. The case simply could not proceed.
Instead, the military has charged Manjang with desertion: an absence from the armed forces spanning nine years with the stated intention of abandoning his post. It is a narrower charge, technically easier to prove, and it keeps him in the system. He faces trial on this count while also being tried separately for assaulting two other men in an ongoing case.
The broader effort to hold Jammeh's network accountable has had more success elsewhere. Several of his accomplices, including other members of the Junglers, have been detained and sentenced in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. But in The Gambia itself, the machinery of justice has proven fragile. Witnesses are reluctant or unavailable. Evidence is scattered. The people who might testify are often the same people who carried out the orders.
Manjang's military trial represents what accountability looks like when the full reckoning proves impossible—a partial measure, a charge that sticks because it requires fewer voices from the past. It is not nothing. But it is also not what the families of the 240 to 250 dead were promised when the Truth Commission began its work. The trial will proceed. Whether it closes anything or merely postpones the harder questions remains to be seen.
Citations marquantes
The Gambian authorities acknowledged that some of the witnesses they needed were themselves members of the death squad, making the murder case impossible to proceed with.— Prosecution statement (paraphrased from reporting)
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Crime & Justice