Gambian Toufah Jallow tells of surviving rape by dictator

By CARLEY PETESCH
Associated Press

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Toufah Jallow first became popular as Gambia’s scholarship winner in a contest for young women with academic promise. Now, she is the face of empowerment for a generations of women who, because of her, feel more emboldened to talk about sexual violence.  In 2015, she fled Gambia, fearing for her life after turning down a marriage proposal from former dictator Yahya Jammeh who she accuses of rape. It took years for the 25-year-old to share her powerful story. After making her account public through a rights report in 2019, then taking the stand for hours at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, she is telling it in detail in a newly released memoir entitled “Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement.”