To Be or Not to Be a Dictator
On Dec. 2, Yahya Jammeh, the dictator of the small West African country Gambia, did something remarkably undictatorial: He agreed to step down after losing an election. But a week later, he reverted to type, appearing live on state television to reject the results.
Mr. Jammeh has been in power for 22 years, a ruthless autocrat throughout. He ran a paramilitary hit squad that, according to human rights groups and one former member I interviewed, assassinated political opponents and dumped their bodies in an abandoned well; he threw lesser enemies in Mile 2, a mosquito-infested prison. In Banjul, the country’s dusty capital, military checkpoints maintained a lifeless calm that dissipated only during official celebrations of Mr.… Seguir leyendo »