UK Based Gambians Take To The Streets

Sunday, 18 December 2011 02:41

Gam Protesters

Concerned about gross violations of fundamental human rights in the Gambia by the President of the Gambia, we the members of the Gambian Society in United Kingdom have decided to demonstrate before your high office in No. 10 Downing Street to draw your attention to our plights.

Gambian Protesters Opposite 10 Downing Street in London

We call on your high office to exercise leadership and end official tyranny in the Gambia, a country dubbed oasis of unquestionable freedom and democracy until 1994, when a group of disgruntled soldiers overthrew our legally elected government from power. Since then Gambians continue to live in a climate of fear characterised by torture, forced disappearances and killings. Ironically, these violations are never investigated, nor prosecuted by the Jammeh regime. We want to give you a summary of some of these violations.

The aftermath of the November 11th, 1994 abortive coup culminated in the summary execution of dozen soldiers by Mr. Jammeh’s junta. Executed and buried in mass graves in the forest, the fallen soldiers who were accused of attempted coup, had been denied their constitutional right to fair trial to prove their innocence in court. Besides, their widows and orphaned children were left to bite the dust.  

In July 1995, the charred remains of Ousman Koro Ceesay, the junta’s finance minister, were found in his car in the outskirts of the capital Banjul. Mr. Ceesay’s assassination resulted on his way home after sending off Yahya Jammeh at the airport.

On April 10 and 11, 2000, 12 armless students [ages between 8 and 16] and a journalist [Omar Barrow] were massacred by Jammeh’s trigger-happy soldiers for demonstrating against the killing and raping of their colleagues by security forces. A Coroner’s Inquest proved that all the victims died of gunshot wounds. Yet Jammeh’s regime granted amnesty to suspects through a backdated bill.
In August 2000, an independent radio station was set on fire by attackers with cans of petrol. Attackers of Radio One FM were found to be Green Boys [radical arm group of Yahya Jammeh].

Gambian Protesters Opposite 10 Downing Street in London

1. declare the election results of 24 November 2011, as bogus and fraudulent, which do not reflect the will of the Gambian people;
2. declare that Yahya Jammeh has lost all legitimacy to rule the people of the Gambian.
3. help Gambians end tyranny of Yahya Jammeh in the Gambia and help restore our cherished culture of dignity, democracy, human rights and the rule of law;
4. help Gambians secure the unconditional release of all political prisoners in the Gambia;
5. help Gambians investigate all cases of extra-judicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances in the Gambia during the 17 years tyranny of Yahya Jammeh;
6. help Gambians end the use of security agents to instil fear in the country;
7. help Gambians end mistreatment of journalists, rights activists and civil liberty groups in the Gambia;
8. help Gambians hold independent inquiry into the assassination of Deyda Hydara; and help them honour the verdict of the ECOWAS court in the case of Chief Ebrima Manneh and Musa Saidykhan, both of whom were victims of the regime’s cruelty.