- Ghanaians have now heard what they have been longing to hear for two years: who ordered the massacre of their nationals in The Gambia? Leaks from Ghanaian police said the 2005 massacre of 44 Ghanaians and 10 other ECOWAS nationals was ordered by the Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, who was convinced that the dissidents were preparing to overthrow his government.
“Intensive investigations by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana police in The Gambia and Senegal have established that all the victims were butchered to death at the command of the Gambian head of state,” the ‘Ghanaian Times’ cracked the knot, disclosing that a full report on the massacre has been submitted to Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD, which requested the investigation to be carried out.
Ghanaian CID officers heard the harrowing details of the massacre from a Ghanaian survivor. The survivor, Kyere, is said to be living in Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo Region.
The massacred youths’ decision to use The Gambia as a transit point to Europe in search of greener pastures doomed their lives.
The Ghanaian Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Kwasi Osei Adjei, confirmed the receipt of the report. "I will study it and take the necessary action," Mr Adjei said.
"I was asked about the murder of the Ghanaians during my vetting in parliament. It is a matter of serious concern to Ghanaians that innocent countrymen could be cruelly murdered simply because they have been found in a fellow ECOWAS country," he said.
Ghanaian officials had earlier said the relations between the two countries was at the brink of being strained should Gambian authorities failed to comply with them as they investigate the massacre in their country.
Most people believed that President Jammeh boycotted the African Union Summit in Ghana to save himself from being embarrassed by Ghanaians who launched series of protest actions venting anger on the massacre.
A disgruntled Gambian security officer recently went wild on the internet, agreeing to what he called "state-sponsored genocide meted out to innocent Ghanaians in The Gambia.”
"The debate on the issue has been going on for sometime now and I believe that it is time for the whole world to take note and prepare ways and means of bringing His Excellency, Dr Alhaji Yahaya to justice. Jammeh should face the International Criminal Court since he spearheaded the 'Ghanaian genocide' in the Gambia," the disgruntled top security officer, Sekouba Jadama, told the US-based online newspaper ‘Freedom‘.
"The Ghanaian government should ensure that justice is seen to be done in this high-profile crime against humanity. Sincerely, I was not present when the gruesome murders of the Ghanaians took place on that fateful night in The Gambia, but I was involved in the investigations at the preliminary stages," Jadama said.
He said while the president and ministers were attending a cultural jamboree festival on the night of July 22 in Banjul, an intelligence agent disclosed the arrest of some West African nationals hell bent on destabilising the anniversary celebrations.
This posed an imminent security threat, with President Jammeh ordering their arrest. "His Excellency was advised to return to the State House immediately and walahi(swearing) he ran, and was saying deal with them! deal with them! and he was trembling while going home."
The captives were soon ferried to Banjul with an emergency ferry before being transported to Brufut coast, 30 km from the capital where police discovered the scattered bodies.
The news of the killing filled the pages of private local tabloids in The Gambia, but the national media turned a deaf ear to it.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español