Gambia: Former president linked to journalist’s murder

BANJUL, Gambia

In official testimony, an ex-member of a hit squad operating under Gambia’s former strongman leader confessed on Monday to killing a journalist.

The confession before the country’s Truth Commission came on the day Gambians are remembering the 25th anniversary of the coup that brought President Yahya Jammeh to power. Under international pressure, Jammeh was deposed in 2017.

Malick Jatta -- also a former member of Gambia’s elite Presidential Guard -- was part of the hit squad known as the Patrol Team. He began his testimony before the Truth Commission on Monday and has so far confessed involvement in three executions.

Up until his testimony, there was no known public confession or evidence tying the former president to the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara. Jammeh -- now living in exile -- has denied involvement in Deyda’s murder.

“Today is a sad day for Gambian journalists,” said Sheriff Bojang Jr., head of the Gambia Press Union.

Jatta said they ambushed Hydara and and then drove off, but without being told their victim’s name.

Hydara was in a car with two women at the time he was shot. The incident fell on the 13th anniversary of the establishment of The Point, the West African country’s first tabloid-style newspaper jointly set up by Pap Saine, Deyda Hydara, and Baboucarr Gaye.