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General News of Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2019-07-24
Yahya Jammeh, former Gambian president
Two Gambian soldiers working for a controlled squad controlled by former president Yahya Jammeh admitted Tuesday to have participated in the 2005 execution of 56 migrants from West Africa, including 44 Ghanaians. on the order of Jammeh.
Lieutenant Malick Jatta and Corporal Omar A. Jallow revealed to the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) that the migrants were executed by the Junglers Brigade, a paramilitary force that had received Jammeh's orders, on the other side of the Gambian border, in Senegalese territory.
"We were told that they were mercenaries," said Jatta, adding that he had shot down one of the migrants. "I heard people screaming in the forest saying," Save us Jesus. "
"Political will is needed to ensure justice in the killing of 44 Ghanaians in The Gambia," Jallow told TRRC. . "In response to the testimonies of the two soldiers, the Jammeh2Justice Ghana campaign, a coalition of civil society seeking to bring Jammeh and those who bear the greatest responsibility for the Ghanaian mbadacre, adds the public testimonies of the two soldiers to the mountain. evidence against Jammeh and his accomplices.
His campaign coordinator, William Nyarko, has asked the government of Ghana to actively engage with TRRC proceedings and seek justice for Ghanaians, adding that other African states have West, including Nigeria, Togo, and Côte d'Ivoire, had also illegally killed should do the same for their nationals.
COURSE OF PRINTING
The Jammeh2Justice Ghana Campaign is run by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in collaboration with its partners, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the African Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), Amnesty International, the Center for the Defense of Human Rights. (HRAC), POS Foundation and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI).
The confessions of Jatta and Jallow corroborate the findings of a Human Rights Watch and TRIAL report dated May 2018 that the migrants were murdered by the "Junglers".
Jammeh has always denied his involvement in the killings. "The testimonies of Jammeh's henchmen confirm that the migrants were murdered by paramilitary death squads under President Jammeh," said Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch.
"It's now time to get to the bottom of Jammeh's responsibilities." Jammeh is currently in Equatorial Guinea, where he exiled after losing the 2016 presidential election to Adama Barrow.
The Jammeh regime has been marked by widespread abuse, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, badual violence, torture and arbitrary detention. Jatta said that after killing a migrant, he saw another migrant running to hide at about 20 meters from him.
"I can say that I saved this person. If I wanted to kill him, sir, 20 meters away, I would not miss my target, "Jatta told TRRC Chief Executive Essa Faal.
It is possible that Jatta refers to one of the survivors of the incident, Martin Kyere. Kyere had avoided the bullets of the gunmen after jumping from a truck carrying arrested migrants before the Junglers killed them.
Following the release of the Human Rights Watch and TRIAL report, the Government of Ghana has stated that it plans to reopen its investigation into the July 2005 mbadacre.
A year later, however, the government took no action.
A coalition of Ghanaian groups, led by former president of Ghana's Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Affairs, Judge Emile Short, called on the government to "accelerate actions and moves; legal, political and diplomatic to ensure that justice is done. "
Survivor Martin Kyere reacted to today's news by calling on the Ghanaian government to continue the investigation.
"We want our government to say, yes, it is time for justice to be done for the 44 people who were killed," Kyere said.
In addition to Ghanaians, the victims of the mbadacre included citizens of Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and Côte d'Ivoire.
On Monday, Jatta had confessed to his involvement in 3 executions, including the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004.
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