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HUMRA remembers April 10 &11 massacre of Gambian students
Saturday, 10 April 2010 04:42
It's exactly 10 solid years since our beloved country painstakingly went through the darkest days in its history,
in the form of April 10th and 11th bloodshed - the days that witnessed the brutal shooting to death of 12 armless students by trigger-happy soldiers paid to protect them. The students' only crime - if there were any - was to launch a demonstration against mistreatment of their colleagues which was in line with their fundamental constitutional rights. April 10th & 11th 2000 left unforgettable trauma in our minds. The brutal and inhumane nature of the events remains a crucial milestone for generations in the annals of our history, thus making its significance an active subject of international concern that requires nothing but justice. These systematic murders of our future leaders simply manifest a case of intensive brutality, resulting to a total destruction of our society's social fabric.
Even more disturbing were statements and actions taken by the government to address the illegal and unconstitutional killings.
Instead of admitting the truth that her government's soldiers killed the 12 students and two others, including a
journalist Omar Barrow, the Vice President, Isatou Njie-Saidy, blamed the demonstrators for the shootings. She was proven wrong by the coroner's inquest that established that soldiers were responsible for the acts. It soon became clear that the inquest was a mere formality after the government enacted a law indemnifying the killers, leaving victims' families with desperation and hopelessness.
The million dollar questions that remain to be answered are: who ordered the shootings and why?
It's clear that the trigger-happy soldiers must have received orders from the top; otherwise some heads would have rolled long since.
Both the government and its so-called security forces had woefully failed us for not acting smartly to contain the situation in a peaceful manner, a clear violation of both Gambian Constitution and International law.
We are confident that the whole truth will come to light as soon as the Jammeh regime is no more in power. All those who played crucial role in the carnage, especially those soldiers that fired AK
47 assault rifles on innocent school children, will surely be brought to book and held accountable before a tribunal of competent jurisdiction. As a human rights body, HUMRA remains committed to campaigning against all forms of human rights violations, especially with impunity. We will use all our available means in this cause. We are therefore calling on the international community and our colleague human rights organizations to exert pressure on the Gambia government to prosecute those responsible for the heinous crime. The government also needs to compensate all those affected by the carnage.
We extend our heart-felt condolences to all those who were affected by the carnage, in particular, victims' families and friends and all those maimed permanently by gunshot wounds.
‘‘Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of the just God cannot retain it.”
Abrahman Lincoln
Yaya Dampha for
The secretariat- HUMRA, Sweden
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