Gambian group petitions ACHPR over death of 44 Ghanaians

A Gambian group, The Gambian Network has filed a complaint with the Africa Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) over the killing of 44 Ghanaians and other nationals in that country.

About 44 Ghanaians and other nationals were allegedly murdered gruesomely by state security agents in that country about two years ago.

Joy News' Dzifa Bampoe who returned recently from The Gambia reports that the dastardly act is almost a taboo and spoken about only in whispers in The Gambia.

She said the mere mention of the deaths creates panic and jitters among Ghanaian nationals who had the unfortunate luck of hosting their folks until their killings by the Gambian security.

Living in a community christened Ghana Town where most of these Ghanaians eke out a living by fishing and petty trading, under intense security surveillance, the Ghanaian nationals say they were hosting their brethren who were looking forward to crossing over into Europe until their cold blooded killings.

A Gambian human rights journalist, Sheriff Musah told Dzifa that the Gambian authorities had remained tight lipped and aloof to the cries over the killings. He said what has compounded the matter is the fact that the Gambian government has not issued any statement on the matter.

Meanwhile, even though Yahya Jammeh has been mentioned as having personally ordered the killings, his regime has persistently remained silent over the killings.

A senior legal officer of the ACHPR, Dr Robert Eno told Dzifa that although the Ghana government was making some diplomatic efforts at getting to the bottom of the matter, it would not affect the work of the commission on the issue.

He confirmed that the group had made a complaint to the Commission, even though he declined to make known the details, citing confidentiality for the parties involved in the case.

He said the final report would be put before the Commission in May 2008.