(JollofNews) – Investigation in the allegation of killings and other enforced disappearances allegedly committed by the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh has stalled for lack of human and non-human resources, a UN group has discovered.
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) said: “Investigation in a number of cases [of enforced disappearances] is being delayed either due to difficulties in the exhumation and/or identification of the bodies or due to the fact that perpetrators are at large, including abroad (notably in Guinea Bissau).”
A delegation of the UN Working Group, composed of Ms Houria Es-Slami, and Mr Henrikas Mickevicius, was in The Gambia for an eight-day official mission, from 12 to 19 June 2017.
The team had meetings with relevant governmental and non-governmental institutions, including the Panel of Missing Persons, a specialised taskforce created within the Gambia Police Force in February 2017 specifically to look into cases of enforced disappearances committed between 1994 and 2016.
In an eight-page report of their preliminary observations at the end of the mission, the UN Working Group disclosed that the Panel on Missing Persons is currently investigating 35 possible cases of enforced disappearances.
However, out of the 35, investigation is completed only in one case which is the case of Solo Sandeng, the late youth mobiliser of United Democratic Party who was alleged tortured to death while under the custody of the notorious National Intelligence Agency, now renamed State Intelligence Services.
Subsequently, nine former agents of the NIA, including the former director general, have been arrested, charged with conspiracy and murder of Mr Sandeng. The trial is ongoing.
However, the UN Working Group, in their report, said a number of army officers have been arrested and detained in connection with the disappearance of four individuals allegedly involved in a coup attempt against Jammeh in December 2014.
Also, two burial sites have been already identified in Tanji and in the Titinba Forest near Bwiam in the Foni region, and the remains of four disappeared persons have been exhumed.
“There are however some obstacles in the identification of the bodies due to the lack of adequate technical means and resources, notably for appropriate DNA testing,” the group said.
According to the information received by the UN Working Group, there are in addition a larger number of disappeared persons whose bodies are believed to have been thrown in wells or graves in or around the village of Kanilai, the native village of Jammeh.
Also, the group had received information that a possible mass grave is in the Army Barracks in Yundum, where 13 army officers who had allegedly participated in an attempted coup in November 1994 would have been buried.
“However, due to lack of adequate technical means and resources as well as the geographical characteristics of the land, the exact places of burials have not been identified yet,” the group lamented.
Critical and urgent
Based on the status quo, the UN Working Group recommended that “there is a critical and urgent need” to improve the forensic capacity and technical means of all those involved in the exhumation and identification of bodies.
There is similar need in ensuing criminal investigation, especially in relation to DNA testing and forensic anthropology.
“The government should also be proactive in the identification of new mass graves, and provide the necessary equipment to probe their location,” the group said, adding that The Gambia needs technical cooperation and assistance in this respect.
The UN Working Group also emphasised that access and meticulous preservation of all existing archives is essential to secure the rights to truth and justice. In addition, access to archives, including those of security sectors institutions, should be guaranteed for the purpose of the search of the disappeared.
Source: The Point Newspaper
It’s another fine mess/ Blame it all on the bossa nova. The Ghost of Jammeh will never be exercised. Meanwhile who is feeding your children ? The IMF perhaps?
“The right to truth and justice” should be secured at all cost.
A good example needs to be set for the future generations.
Yes Jack Agreed but this is not a level playing field.
Jammeh could fix everything by clicking his fingers and those instructed would comply any which way.
This is now a Democratic government with Law and Justice that must be truly impartial. As such best practice requires evidence/ witnesses/ and due process with integrated Barrister arguments before a judge. The whole process is painstaking/ elaborate/ frustrating and time consuming. Not for the faint hearted. Its is also extremely expensive for The State, its police force and it’s legal luminaries. The Ministry of Justice must be overwhelmed>> now and for many years to come. The man hours involved must be staggering. A true test on all the governments and its agencies time.
The process must take its course despite obstacles and the resources it takes. The records should be be brought out to the public domain. There is no room for criminals like Jammeh to hide. He has wronged so many lives and the patriotic Gambians are still in shock wanting to get to the bottom of these criminal and brutal acts.
Yes Madam !!
It is only my opinion>> that feeding the many should precede the chasing of the few.
The Tyrant is landlocked. His only protection is the walled garden he was allocated. His army has gone home and those who give protection do not come cheap.
For many years I said good morning to the MFDC spokesperson in the Gambia. A secretive man of few words who sat at breakfast with a very attractive light skinned woman. {possibly North African} He spent most of his day and night in his bedroom.
I was sad to learn sometime later he was transferred to Mile 2 and succumb to a broken back, and death. Those who think the tyrant could gain an entrance through Casamance, with Ecowas forces blocking the way, really must go and do some homework.
The Barrow government really need to get on the front foot and promote their recovery agenda. The other issues will take time and patience. But why keep the “white” ghost alive with all this publicity. It really is counter productive.
Nothing infuriates me more than Jollof news always printing the ugly photo of that imbecile Yahya Jammeh on line. Is it necessary. I think we all know what the Neanderthal looks like by now. My appeal to the editor is to stop using his pictures.
lol
If America can indefinitely detained those they called enemy combatants without the due processes of the law, why can’t we not detain those that we all know committed the worst atrocities against our people. Yahya Jammeh and his evil henchmen should not benefit from the provisions of due processes of the law just as they denied countless innocent citizens that same provision. They are beast and should be treated as such.
Yes Indeed, so do/did the Jews; But your tyrant secured the agreement with Ecowas and the UN.. I really do not think Africa needs to humble itself by stooping to such covert actions. I think once there is the evidence secured, the options flow through Interpol or The ICC. This is not a short term process and could take many years. Someone will be on it, that’s for sure. I often wonder what is most important to a man? Money, Love, Religion, or Respect. The things that money can buy are purely cosmetic. I would say the most important things are food or a pair of underpants. Food you need,, underpants you can do without.
America’s decline did not start with 9/11 It started with Guantanamo Bay/