The Jammeh2Justice Ghana Coalition is calling on government to demand for a new international investigation and seek justice for the victims and families of the murder of Ghanaians and other migrants in the Gambia.
The Campaign said the call for new investigation was necessary because the chain of events leading to the killings of the affected persons were unclear despite the confession of several Gambian soldiers who participated in the act in 2005.
Project Manager for the Coalition, Regina Amanfo, made the call in Accra to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the massacre and disappearance of 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia.
The event was in collaboration with Human Right Watch, New York; Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative; Ghana Center for Democratic Development; and Amnesty International.
In 2019, two Gambian soldiers working for a hit squad allegedly controlled by former President Yahya Jammeh admitted to participating in the 2005 execution of 56 West African migrants, including 44 Ghanaians on the orders of the President.
Lieutenant Malick Jatta and Corporal Omar A. Jallow revealed to Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission that the migrants were executed by the “Junglers” squad, a paramilitary force that took orders from Former President Jammeh, across the Gambian border in Senegalese territory.
Ms Amanfo said since the killings, civil society organisations and international groups had called for justice for the victims and their families, but nothing had been done.
She called on the government to seek the extradition of Mr Jammeh to face justice in Ghana for the 2005 massacre of 44 Ghanaian migrants in The Gambia.
“We need to bring closure to this case, we cannot allow impunity to reign. Perpetrators of such heinous crimes must be brought to book. Those who committed these crimes, investigations must be done and they should be prosecuted”, she said.
Coordinator for the Coalition William Nyarko, said the primary objective of the Coalition was to persuade the government to extradite Yahya Jammeh’s from Equatorial Guinea in order to prosecute him in Ghana.
The campaign was part of a larger effort to seek accountability for Jammeh’s alleged crimes and human rights violations.
The Coalition, he said, followed a wider campaign effort by The Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations and other local and international human rights organizations to ensure that Jammeh and members of his regime are brought to trial in a court of competent jurisdiction.
He commended Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye, the Speaker of Parliament for referring the matter to the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee for discussion, hoping action would be expedited to bring justice to the victims.
Spokesperson for the Survivors and Victims’ families, Martin Kyere, recounting the incident said about 56 West African migrants including; 44 Ghanaians who were using an unapproved route through the Gambia to seek greener pastures in Europe were killed in The Gambia.
He said their bodies were dumped by the road in front of Brufut Forest, near Ghanatown, a town predominantly inhabited by Ghanaians living in the Gambia.
The remaining migrants were shot over several days in Cassamance in Senegalese territory.
He called for justice and compensation for the victims and their families, saying “life is meaningless when there is no justice”.