from MOMODOU DIBBA in Banjul, Gambia
BANJUL, (CAJ News) – LAWYERS representing families of migrants killed by security forces in Gambia in 2005 believe then-president, Yahya Jammeh, will soon be brought to justice.
Some 59 migrants were killed.
A paramilitary unit controlled by Jammeh allegedly killed the individuals.
Jammeh has since left the country and sought exile following his defeat by Adama Barrow in 2017.
“Yahya Jammeh may now be ensconced in Equatorial Guinea but sooner or later he is going to be held accountable,” said Femi Falana, senior advocate of Nigeria.
He represents some families of the deceased.
Gambian and international human rights groups have been monitoring the commission hearings into the killings.
The probe began in 2019.
The nationals killed were from Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Previous official attempts to investigate the massacre have been flawed.
Jammeh ran Gambia with an iron fist from 1996.
The Gambian truth commission has also heard testimony that he participated in the rape and sexual assault of women brought to him.
He forced HIV-positive Gambians to give up their medicine and put themselves in his personal care.
Jammeh is reportedly responsible for ordering the killing and torture of political opponents and “witch hunts” in which hundreds of women were arbitrarily detained.
– CAJ News