DAKAR, Senegal — Gambia’s attorney general on Wednesday called a onetime beauty queen “brave” for coming forward with accusations that the country’s former president raped her, and asked others to speak out if they had similar accusations about events that occurred during his 22-year regime.

Fatou Jallow, who won the national beauty pageant in 2014, said President Yahya Jammeh raped her after she turned down his marriage proposal. She spoke about the assault for the first time to The New York Times in an article published Tuesday.

The accusations by Ms. Jallow, known as Toufah, jolted the country of two million and were widely shared on social media by Gambians and those in the diaspora. Mr. Jammeh could not be reached for comment through intermediaries known to be in touch with him and has issued no official response.

“The attorney general salutes the courage of Ms. Jallow for speaking up and sharing her story with the world,” Abubacarr M. Tambadou, Gambia’s attorney general and minister of justice, said in a news release, “and for exposing yet another serious allegation of reprehensible conduct by former President Jammeh, who abused his position as head of state to the detriment of many Gambians.”