Yahya Jammeh Must Be Prosecuted Over The Killings of Some 44 Ghanaians In The Gambia – Okudzeto Ablakwa
Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency and Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has called for the trial and prosecution of former Gambian President, Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh over the killings of some 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia.
According to him, those Ghanaians who died mercilessly in the hands of the former government of Gambia deserve justice.
Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' program, he explained that they have written to the current Gambian government which has set up a commission to investigate some atrocities during the regime of the former President, Yahya Jammeh to invite the remaining three Ghanaians who managed to escape to testify to the commission.
Through the work of the Jammeh2Justice Ghana CSO Coalition led by CDD-Ghana, with members comprising Africa Center for International Law and Accountability, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Amnesty International Ghana, among others, and international partners such as Human Rights Watch, TRIAL International, we have learned that our citizens were actually killed by uniformed Gambian soldiers on the orders of Mr. Yahya Jammeh, former President of the Gambia.
He added that three Gambian soldiers admitted in July this year, 2019, to participating in the 2005 execution of the 44 Ghanaians on the orders of Jammeh.
"Lieutenant Malick Jatta and Corporal Omar A. Jallow revealed to Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) that the migrants were executed by the “Junglers” squad, a paramilitary force that took orders from Jammeh, across the Gambian border in Senegalese territory.
“We were told they were mercenaries,” Jatta said, adding that he shot and killed one of the migrants. “I heard people shouting in the forest saying ‘save us, Jesus.’” Jallow told the TRRC that Lt Col Solo Bojang, the leader of the operation, told the men that “the order from Yahya Jammeh is that they are all to be executed.”
We have so far received a positive response from the Gambian government and we hope that the former dictator would be brought from his hideout and prosecuted or be made to face trial.
He, however, expressed worry over the release of some military officers who testified to the killing of the 44 Ghanaians and are all walking free on the streets of Gambia.
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