Forty-four Ghanaians and a number of other nationals including Nigerians totaling fifty have been allegedly killed by hit-men of the former autocratic ruler Jammeh.
The spokesperson of the Gambia Government, Demba Jawo, has told Kerr Fatou that they will cooperate with any request from the Ghanaian authorities in relations to unearthing the truth about their nationals killed in the country in 2005.
Forty-four Ghanaians and a number of other nationals including Nigerians totaling fifty have been allegedly killed by hit-men of the former autocratic ruler Jammeh.
“This government is ready to cooperate with Ghanaians or anybody else who wants to investigate the atrocities of the past regime…,” Jawo said.
“In fact, this is the reason why we have started the truth and reconciliation and reparation commission so that we can unearth what actually transpired regarding atrocities of the past regime… Gambia Government is willing to cooperate with Ghanaians”
Despite measures in ensuing years by Ghana as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations (UN) to investigate the case, no arrests have ever been made.
Though Gambia Government denied any involvement in the killings, the country has compensated the victims with $500, 000.
The Bulletin of the UN Department of Public Affairs said that an ECOWAS/UN report, never made public, concluded that the Gambian government was not “directly or indirectly complicit” in the deaths and disappearances but rather that “rogue elements” in Gambia’s security services “acting on their own” were probably responsible.
Meanwhile, rights activists said on Wednesday that new evidences have emerged that makes clear that those responsible for the killings were the Junglers, who were not rogue elements, but a disciplined unit operating under Jammeh.
In October 2017, Gambian and international rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, and TRIAL International, launched the “Campaign to Bring Yahya Jammeh and his Accomplices to Justice” (#Jammeh2Justice), which calls for prosecuting Jammeh and others who bear the greatest responsibility for his government’s crimes under international fair trial standards.
President Barrow of The Gambia has suggested that he would seek Jammeh’s extradition from Equatorial Guinea if his prosecution was recommended by the country’s Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, which is expected to begin work in the next few months with an initial two-year mandate.
The government and international activists and academics have said that the political, institutional and security conditions do not yet exist in The Gambia for a fair trial of Yahya Jammeh which would contribute to Gambia’s stability.
President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea said in January that he would “analyze [any extradition request] with [his] lawyers.”
A week later, however, he said “we have to protect him [Jammeh], we have to respect him as a former African head of state, because that is what is going to ensure that the other heads of state of Africa who have to leave power do not fear for subsequent harassment.”
“Our investigation has enabled us to get closer to the truth about this horrible massacre,” said Benedict De Moerloose, head of Criminal Law and Investigations for TRIAL International.
“The time has now come to deliver justice for the victims and their families.”
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