* Gambian president said would rule for "a billion years"

* Government denies deterioration of civil liberties (Adds quote from Jammeh, detail from event)

DAKAR, July 22 A month after 29-year-old Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh seized power in Gambia in a bloodless coup in 1994, the U.S. He fled to Equatorial Guinea in January after regional troops entered the tiny West African state to force him to accept defeat to property developer Adama Barrow in elections the previous month. REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon

BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia said on Thursday it would set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and offer reparations to victims of former President Yahya Jammeh's government, which is accused of the torture and killing of perceived opponents.
The Gambia's justice minister Abubacarr Tambadou states that the country will establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission "within the next six months" to investigate allegations of abuse dating from the time of former President Yahya Jammeh. According to Tambadou, public hearings are scheduled to get underway by year's end.