<<Print>>

Somewhere in February 2005, over forty four (44) Ghanaians boarded a small boat in Ghana to Senegal, en route to Europe to seek greener pastures. The boat was, however, intercepted when it entered The Gambian territorial waters, and the occupants arrested on trumped-up charges of attempting to topple Yahya Jammeh, a semi-literate, masquerading as President. The information was relayed to Mr. Jammeh, who was then celebrating the bloody coup that brought him to power. Without any proper investigation, the coup maker ordered his men to kill the Ghanaians. The soldiers, acting upon the instructions of their Commander in Chief, handcuffed the Ghanaian immigrants and took them to a location, which was later identified as the family home of the man who calls himself President, and were subjected to severe torture. In the course of the inhuman treatment, two of the innocent Ghanaians managed to escape, but one of the escapees was later arrested and slashed into pieces by one of the soldiers, using a machete. After the cruel act, the soldiers collected the pieces of human flesh and put them in a sack, apparently as evidence to show to Yahya Jammeh that the job had been successfully executed. The rest of the so-called Ghanaian mercenaries were transported into a forest and killed in cold blood. One of them, however, managed to escape to Senegal, and later returned to Ghana to break the news about the heinous crime. President Yahya Jammeh, initially, denied knowledge of the crime, but after intense diplomatic pressure, admitted that his soldiers were behind it, but failed to tell the international community that he himself ordered the killings. He offered to pay $500,000 as compensation to the family of the victims. He would, however, not accept claims that the victims were forty four (44), and insisted that only six Ghanaians were massacred. The bodies of the six were subsequently brought home for a befitting burial. Six years after the slaughter of the Ghanaians, information filtering in indicates that the number of people that were actually killed was forty-four, and not six, as indicated by Yahya Jammeh. A soldier in the Gambian Army has come out to make a chilling confession that it was President Jammeh who ordered the killing of the defenceless Ghanaians. He also told the local media, on condition of anonymity, that President Jammeh also ordered the killing of the Associated Press (AP) correspondent in Banjul, Deyda Hydara, some years ago. Below is the confession made by the soldier, who is still serving in the Gambian Army, about the killing of the journalist and Ghanaians. In an interview he granted the local media, he pleaded for anonymity. I have been sitting on this information for a while now. Since you have proven to be a credible and dependable journalist, I'm comfortable to relate to you about the people, who were responsible for the killings of the Ghanaians. Ghanaian Killers Named While the July 22 nd 2005 Anniversary (Jammeh's Coup) was in progress in Banjul, we received word that some mercenaries, who plotted to attack the country, were captured and detained by the Navy in Banjul. The suspects were transported to the late Baba Jobe's residence in Kotu for further processing. This is the residence where the President's Mom lives. The first batch of suspected Ghanaian mercenaries was later taken to Kanili. On arrival at the President's home, two of the suspects escaped, while the third suspect was shot by WO 2 Malick Jatta, during his struggle to escape from custody. One of the escapees was later apprehended at a village called Bambara in Foni, behind Kanilai. The village is situated near Allah-Kunda. The suspect was cut into pieces with a cutlass by Sana Manjang, before putting his remains into a bag locally known as 'SAKO'. The bag, containing the murdered foreign national, was dumped near the outskirts of Buiam Santangba. Pa, if you can recall, there was a time an unidentified dead body was found in the said locality. The body was wrapped in a bag. The body in question was part of the suspected murdered mercenaries. The man was killed by Sana Manjang. He was cut into pieces and wrapped in a bag by Manjang. The story about the unidentified dead body found in the area was reported by the Daily Observer and GRTS. It was our men who perpetrated the killing. The remaining suspects were shot and killed at close range at a place in Kanilai (location withheld for now). WO2 Malick Jatta and Sana Manjang carried out the killings, with the help of others named herein. Both Malick and Sana were armed with MAB PISTOLS during the execution of the detainees. The suspects have been buried in Kanilai (location withheld for now), due to national security issues. The other suspects were killed and dumped in the bushes of Brufut. The villagers later alerted the authorities when they found the smelling corpses. The individuals named below participated in the killing of the Ghanaians in The Gambia. They also supervised their transportation to both Kanilai and Brufut.