Dictator accused of torture and death, is he also a rapistIs he a rapist? former Gambian strongman Yahya Jammeh, [photo] has been accused of rape by a former beauty queen during his time in power

A Gambian beauty queen recalls the lecture to her and other contestants from that country’s ruler at her crowning: ‘Do not rush to marry’, he said, but use the pageant’s scholarship prize to fulfill your dreams.
Five years later, the beauty pageant winner has accused the country’s former dictator Yahya Jammeh of raping her four years ago, the latest allegation of human rights abuses committed by the ex-president now living in exile in Equatorial Guinea.
Fatou ‘Toufah’ Jallow, now 23, made an announcement to journalists Tuesday and said she plans to testify later this year before Gambia’s truth and reconciliation commission, which is investigating abuses committed under the Jammeh government.

Jammeh who had Gambia under his thumb for 22 years, is accused of ordering opponents tortured, jailed and killed.
The sexual abuse allegations raised by Jallow and others directly implicate him in personally committing violence against Gambians.

Jammeh is reportedly living a lavish but reclusive life in exile in Equatorial Guinea, where he is protected from extradition by the dictator in charge of the oil-rich country.
Jallow, who wanted to come forward publicly, said the president began lavishing gifts on her and her family after meeting her when she was crowned queen of the Miss July 22 Pageant as an 18-year-old back in 2014.
Jammeh took a special interest in her, she said, ordering the utility company to install running water at her mother’s home, and having his cousin purchase the family expensive furniture.
While initially he expressed interest in funding her charity project, she said that Jammeh, a married man that she considered a mentor, asked for her hand in marriage.

After she declined, he told her that as the pageant winner she had to attend an event at his official residence, State House, ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
Once there, she said she was locked in a room and drugged by the president himself.
‘He told me, `No woman has ever rejected me. And who do you think you are?” she said.
‘His face changed, his eyes were so red, different from the man before. He said, `No woman rejects me. You think you can get away with it?”
As she tried to leave, Jallow said the president told her: ‘If you make any move, I will kill you with my own hands.’
The president then drugged her, shoved his genitals in her face and raped her before she blacked out, she said.
Several days later she told her family she was going to the market to shop, and then fled to neighboring Senegal.

Jammeh had told her he wanted to talk about her beauty pageant project — a drama program for students on eliminating poverty. Then he offered her a job as one of his protocol officers, who performed secretarial work at the statehouse. She was only 18, she told him, and did not feel qualified to work in a president’s office.
Later, reports emerged in the Gambian diaspora media that Mr. Jammeh had been using his “protocol girls” for sexual favors.
Advocates with Human Rights Watch and Trial International, took testimony from two former protocol officers who said that sex with the president had been part of the job. One woman, who chose to remain anonymous because she is afraid of retribution from Jammeh’s supporters, said in her testimony that when she was 23, she was given cash and gifts for having sex with him, and that he told her that if she refused he would cut off the financial support he was giving her family.
Jammeh reportedly, exploited young Gambian girls, many of them teenagers employed as Protocol Officers attached to the Office of the President. Most of the girls are housed in a complex a few meters away from the president’s house where they said they are perpetually trapped and are always on standby to satisfy the President’s unusually high appetite for sex with young girls.
Fatu Radio in 2015 documented how young virgin  were lured into sexual relationship with the President where they are dis-virgined and their blood used for rituals.
Two of the victims of this scary encounter later escaped to safety in a neighboring countries where they have received counseling and treated for trauma with related problems.

Jammeh later lost the 2016 election to now President Adama Barrow. After initially refusing to accept his defeat, Jammeh succumbed to international pressure, stepped down from office and fled to Equatorial Guinea.

Gambia’s new administration has estimated that Jammeh and his associates fled with up to $1 billion in funds from the state coffers.
The truth and reconciliation commission does not have the powers to prosecute but will make recommendations for the Attorney General Chambers to act on a number of cases that may be taken up with the court. Jammeh for now remains untouchable in exile.
‘It’s going to take a lot of heavy political lifting to pry him out of Equatorial Guinea,’ said Reed Brody, counsel at Human Rights Watch who led the investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse.
Gambia’s reconciliation process has put a special focus on women who endured beatings or sexual violence by the Jammeh regime’s security officers, or who were impoverished after their husbands were locked up.
In 2018 a series of women-only listening circles brought victims together to share privately their traumatic experiences and encourage them to speak out.

Jallow received asylum in Canada in 2015, and she is scheduled to testify before the commission during hearings on sexual violence later this year.
She is currently undergoing therapy and hopes other young women victimized by Jammeh will come forward.
‘Nobody discusses rape and yes, I am scared,’ she said. ‘I am scared. But I want the next person after me to be a little less scared than me.’