Gambia massacre: We won’t accept your silence, inaction - Ablakwa tells Akufo-Addo, others

After 15 years of the brutal murder of some 56 West African nationals of which 44 were Ghanaians, the prime mastermind behind the heart wrenching crime still walks free.

Yahya Jammeh, former President of The Gambia on whose order some paramilitary forces otherwise known as the ‘Junglers’ took the lives of the 56 immigrants, now lives as a free man in exile in Equatorial Guinea.

Though several eyewitness accounts from some of the paramilitary officials have implicated the former president, not much substantive efforts have been recorded so far.

On this note, however, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has charged African leaders, particularly those whose citizens fell prey to the heinous crime to make a conscious effort to bring Yahya Jammeh to book.

According to the ranking member of parliamentary committee on foreign Affairs, 15 years is enough to gather substantive evidence to subject the former leader to a fair trial.

Mr Ablakwa in his solidarity message at the 15th anniversary commemoration of the massacre, Wednesday, July 22, 2020 also demanded of African leaders to commence extradition process of Yahya Jammeh, who is seeking asylum in Equatorial Guinea, to face fair trial in Ghana.

He believes Ghana would be the appropriate destination for Mr Jammeh’s prosecution since 44 of the 56 victims of the massacre have been traced to the West African country.

In his address, he argued, “15 years on justice has eluded us and we are gathering here today to declare that we shall not accept the injustice, we shall not accept the silence, the lack of prosecution, the lack of action from African leaders."

Adding that "15 years on a lot has changed, the initial United Nations/ECOWAS report appeared to have gotten Yahya Jammeh off the hook when they could not link Yahyah Jammeh to the killings. Now we know the first evidence has emerged…today we want to call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that his task, he’s really been associated with Gambia…We insist that we will not take silence for an answer.”

It is worth noting that, a joint ECOWAS and UN team which was tasked to unravel the mysteries around the 2005 massacre exonerated the former Gambian leader from any wrong doing. He was subsequently let off the hook as no evidence emerged from the investigations.

In 2018 however, a Human rights watch and Trial International released a report on investigations into the massacre and the details sharply contradicted the initial UN/ECOWAS report.

Interviews with some of the paramilitary officers revealed Yahya Jammeh’s direct involvement in the massacre. It also revealed that The Gambian government also destroyed key evidence before the UN/ECOWAS team arrived.