Accra, Ghana, March 2, 2020//-Civil society actors, media practitioners and members of the public could not control their tears when a documentary film titled-“Massacre of Ghanaians in the Gambia: Justice in Limbo ?” was premiered at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in Accra.
They could not believe that a fellow human being could order the massacre of Ghanaians and other West African migrants number over 44, they told African Eye Report after watching the harrowing documentary.
Pouring his anger at the despicable act allegedly committed by then Gambia leader Yahya Jammeh in 2005, Sheikh Ali Abubakari Napari, the Chief Executive Officer of Light Foundation, an NGO, could not fathom why his fellow Muslim (Yahya Jammeh) did such an abominable act.
According to him, taking a single person’s life away is one of the heinous crimes in Islam and God won’t forgive that person.
The documentary put up together by the Jammeh2Justice Ghana Campaign led by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) dug into how some 44 Ghanaians and other West African migrants were killed by some soldiers allegedly ordered by the then Gambia leader Yahya Jammeh.
The film also showed attempts by families of the victims to seek justices for their beloved ones. It further revealed that through investigations, four other survivors were discovered in Spain, Senegal, Ghana and Germany.
Speaking before the premiering of the documentary, the Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at CDD-Ghana, Dr Kojo Asante reiterated the call to seek justice for the slain victims and their families.
“It is our hope that all stakeholders will work hard to ensure justice for the surviving victims and victims’ families”, he added.
Speaker after speaker called on the government to bring Mr Jammeh who is currently in exile in Equatorial Guinea to book.
The campaigners, families and survivors also lamented at the slow pace of work towards the extradition and prosecution of Mr Jammeh in Ghana or in part of the world.
They were not impressive so far with the effort made the Ghanaian government in seeking justice for the victims.
According to them, 15 years into the gruesome killing of the some 44 Ghanaians, present and successive governments have shown little effort at bringing Mr Jammeh to face justice.
On his part, the Coordinator of the Jammeh2Justice Ghana Campaign and Executive Director of Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), William Nyarko, observed that the Gambian authorities had demonstrated that they were not committed to bringing Mr Jammeh and his soldiers who allegedly shot and killed the Ghanaians to justice.
In his words: “The Gambian authorizes have demonstrated that they would not bring the soldiers who shot and killed the some 44 Ghanaians and other West African migrants in the Gambia to justice”.
Michael Boadi of the Ghana Integrity Initiative used the occasion to call for the proper audit of the compensation paid by then Jammeh government to the Mills government for the burial of some of the victims in Ghana.
The CSO Coalition, whose members include CDD-Ghana, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), ACILA), Amnesty International, Human Rights Advocacy Center (HRAC), POS Foundation, and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), have been working hard to seek justice for the victims.
African Eye Report
