I was bitterly disappointed in UN, ECOWAS report, Gambia massacre survivor

Martin Kyere, 2005 Gambia massacre survivor 

The only known survivor of the July 2005 massacre of over 50 migrants in Gambia has told The Manual that he felt bitterly disappointed in the joint UN and ECOWAS report issued after the team had conducted their investigations.

A team made up of UN and regional investigators from ECOWAS exonerated then President of Gambia Yahya Jammeh from being responsible in the murder of scores of migrants from Ghana and Nigeria, which reports say they were mistaken for mercenaries.

According to Mr. Kyere it was by the Grace of God who released him from the victims of death so he could come and tell the whole world what Yahya Jammeh had done to them. Nine years after the report, he still feels bitter, not only for himself but for his entire colleagues who made the trip.

“I don’t know the facts and truth UN and ECOWAS used to arrive on the basis that Jammeh didn’t know anything about it. I was totally and bitterly disappointed in the report; not me alone but also the travelling members”, Mr. Kyere lamented.

He was hopeful when the investigative team from the two bodies met him in Accra to listen to his side of the story but did not hear from them again only for them to come out with that “unfortunate” report in 2009.

“I was invited to a meeting with the delegation in a hotel around the foreign affairs ministry. I was there from morning till evening. They just asked me what the story was about, I briefed them and didn’t hear from them again”, he stated. 

Ghana minister of information Dr. Mustapha Hamid has revealed that government was studying a request sent by Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International to extradite and prosecute Yahya Jammeh in Ghana.

Ghanaian Migrants in Gambia shot dead, thrown in wells, Jammeh’s hitman reveals

A former death squad member of the infamous paramilitary “junglers” of ex-Gambian dictator, Yahya Jammeh has described how more than 50 Ghanaian and other West African migrants were murdered in July 2005.

In a radio interview given in 2013 to a Gambian radio station and translated into English for the first time, Bai Lowe revealed how his unit covered the migrants’ heads with cheap plastic bags, shot them and dumped them in wells across Gambia’s border with Senegal.

One of the migrants escaped and after he was recaptured, a jungler “cut him into pieces like a Tabaski ram” and put him in a plastic sack.  (Tabaski is the Muslim “festival of sacrifice” Eid al-Adha at which rams and sheep are slaughtered.)

On May 16, 2018, Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International released a report based on interviews with 30 former Jammeh-era officials showing that the migrants were murdered by the junglers after having been detained by Jammeh’s closest deputies in the army, navy, and police forces.

In response to the report, Martin Kyere, the sole known Ghanaian survivor of the massacre, the families of those disappeared in Gambia, and Ghanaian human rights organizations, called on the Ghanaian government to investigate the new evidence and potentially seek Jammeh’s extradition and prosecution in Ghana.

Ghana Minister of Information, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, announced last week that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney-General’s Department were “studying” the request “to ask for the extradition to, and trial of Yahaya Jammeh in Ghana.”

William Nyarko, Executive Director of the Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), who is coordinating the campaign in Ghana to have Jammeh prosecuted for the massacre, said that the jungler’s testimony underscored the importance of Ghana taking up the case. “Forty-four Ghanaians were cruelly murdered in a foreign country. The gruesome killings as narrated Bai Lowe should shock the conscience of Ghana to get to the bottom of what happened and ultimately bring the perpetrators to account.”

Bai Lowe, ex junglers member 

Baboucar “Bai” Lowe, a former Gambian Army Warrant officer, who is now living in Germany, described the events in his 2013 interview with journalist Pa Nderry M’Bai of Freedom Radio based in North Carolina (USA):

“We got information that they were captured mercenaries … who were coming to attack the Gambia. So, we caught them, and we took them to the NIA [National Intelligence Authority] office. From the NIA headquarters, they were scattered, and [then] we took them to Kanilai [Yahya Jammeh’s home village]”

Following an order to kill the migrants; “Two guys will just bring you to the well execute you and throw you in the well [in Senegal]. That is where I saw them use a pistol to kill people….. [T]hey hold you and shoot you, while they already had a plastic bag over your head, the one dalasi [= 10 Ghanaian Pesewas] black plastic bags, shoot you and throw you in the well.”

Regarding the escapee, Bai Lowe stated; “Yes, one escaped, he was caught near Kankurang and Bambara. When he was caught, [Sanna] Manjang [a Jungler] went there and cut him into pieces like a Tabaski ram and put him into a sack. He even boasts about that, that nobody has done what he did for the Gambia because he has cut more people into pieces than any soldier in the Gambian Army. He said he has more guts than the kids because the kids cannot do what he did. He has killed people, cut them up, bagged them and threw them in [the bush]”

Bai Lowe, who was trained in Libya, served in the Gambian Presidential Guard and the junglers for some 12 years before being arrested himself in 2012 and jailed in Banjul’s infamous Mile 2 prison. After his release, he participated in a December 2014 coup attempt.

Bai Lowe’s account squares with that of the survivor Martin Kyere, who jumped out of a pick-up truck and into the forest just before the other detainees in the truck were apparently shot and killed.

Kyere has been advocating for the Ghana government to prosecute the case. “We need to make clear that Ghanaians abroad can’t be tortured and killed with impunity. By prosecuting this crime, the government will be protecting and standing up for Ghanaians everywhere.”

In a 2009 Memorandum of Understanding between Ghana and Gambia intended to put the issue to rest , the two countries “pledged to pursue through all available means the arrests and prosecution of all those involved in the deaths and disappearances of the Ghanaians and other ECOWAS nationals, especially those identified as culprits in the report.” No arrests have ever been made in connection with the case.

However, the Ghanaian groups which have called for Jammeh’s prosecution include the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), Perfector of Sentiments Foundation (POS), Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), and Amnesty International.

Source: Jammeh2Justice  https://www.facebook.com/Jammeh2Justice/posts/2071581913114388

Editorial: Anas' Money Ball Vs Kennedy Agyepong's Who Watches the Watchman

Anas Aremeyaw (right) and Hon. Agyepong (left) 

For the past few weeks, Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central in the Central Region, Hon. Kennedy Agyepong has been accusing investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas for being corrupt himself.

The MP made these attacking comments prior to the premiering of Anas' latest corruption investigative piece, Number XII, also dubbed Money Ball.

One important thing, which The Manual believes is worth mentioning is what the MP stated: "when someone raises accusing finger on a corrupt fellow, that person must also be clean".

This, The Manual thinks is a fair comments. Aside this, we are unhappy with some portions of Hon. Agyepong's comments.

In one of his submissions, he showed some pictures purported to be Anas and entreated his sympathisers to "beat" and "slap" Anas and his boys wherever they see them as he (MP) mentioned that he was capable of paying any amount of money in case any casualties result from the beatings.

The Manual sees this as a high level of threats that must be dealt with by the security agencies accordingly for the safety of not only Anas, but all journalists.

Notwithstanding, Anas has provided concrete evidences on the people he accused of being corrupt in his latest exposé.

More than 60 premier league referees, including their female counterparts and some match officials were seen collecting bribe prior to the commencement of league matches.

One of such referees is the hardened referee Samuel Suker who awarded an 83rd minute penalty to Hearts of Oak against arch rivals Asante Kotoko after the ball hits the back of kotoko's defender Ahmed Adams. This was during the 2017 Ghana Premier League. He took Ghc1500 and a goat to influence the game as Hearts won 1-0.

The return leg of this fixture in Accra was not left out as referee Dally Gagba was also given his share to influence the game in Kotoko's favour. Eventually, he awarded a similar dubious penalty to Kotoko when the ball hit the shoulder of Hearts of Oak's defender.

We believe that these great evidences by Anas is worth commended at all levels as referees and match commissioners who should ensure the sanity of the game are rather destroying the beauty of the game.

On the other hand, Hon, Agyepong has on many occasions, mentioned that Anas himself is not a "saint". He added that he also has evidences showing Anas collecting bribes from some agents which he has titled the videos "Who Watches the Watchman". That is also good.

In order to have a level playing field and also to vindicate Hon. Agyepong on his numerous allegations against Anas, the Manual will entreat the MP to show those evidences accordingly.

Already, he has promised to show it on his TV network -Net 2 on Friday and we wait patiently to see those videos.

Meanwhile, The Manual was extremely shocked after watching Anas' documentary, Number 12 today at the Accra International Conference Centre. These evidences cast a slur on Ghana's top flight football league.

It also tells that eventual winners of the 2017 Ghana Premier League -Aduana Stars, may not deserve it. Those evidences were only the ones Tiger Eye, -Anas'company went undercover to trap those referees.

How would we know what the other clubs did with these same officials without the influence of Tiger Eye? And yes, it is very possible.

The Manual believes that these videos will change Ghana Football forever. It will never be the same again.

Below are pictures of the show.

Ghanaians killed in Gambia: “Akufo-Addo nearly fought my Foreign Minister”, Jammeh makes wild allegations, curses him

President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo

Reports seen by The Manual have revealed that then Foreign Affairs Minister and now president of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo nearly fought with his Gambian counterpart, Bala Gaye in Banjul when he led a delegation to Gambia following the murder of 44 Ghanaians.

This was contained in the 17^th -18^th June 2009 Edition of the Foroyaa Newspaper where then Gambia president Yahya Jammeh - for the first time since the murder of 56 migrants in July 2005 in Gambia, broke his silence on the issue. This was after the joint ECOWAS and UN investigations into the murder exonerated Jammeh and his government from being directly or indirectly involved.    

Then Gambian leader mentioned that upon seeing the eight bodies that were deposited in Ghana town, in Gambia, he invited Ghanaian community, African missions and all diplomatic representatives in Gambia to go and identify them, but were unable to do so, even though he [Jammeh] insisted that they [bodies] “must” be Ghanaians.

According to him, when the bodies could not be identified after more than three weeks, he directed they should be buried because the bodies “were occupying space” at the morgue. Few days after they were buried, then Ghana leader, President Kufour sent envoy to Gambia on the issue. Here was when Mr. Jammeh stated that Ghana foreign minister Nana Akufo-Addo lost his cool.

“And interestingly, when countries are put into alphabetical order, you have Gabon, Gambia, and Ghana. And at the AU, we sit side by side. As I said, this sad episode did not interfere in my relationship with the then President of Ghana, Kufour. But then the foreign minister of Ghana [Mr. Akufo-Addo] almost fought the foreign affairs minister of the Gambia, Balla Gaye in his office”, Jammeh said.      

The Gambian leader further mentioned that Mr. Akufo-Addo had a presidential ambition and was leading a “campaign” against Gambia government for being responsible of the murder in order to shutter his [Jammeh] dreams of becoming ECOWAS Chairman.

“I told him [Akufo-Addo] it was a campaign against the Gambia to host the 2006 AU Summit. Not only that but also for me to be Chairman of the ECOWAS and that time my best ally in West Africa was Mauritania and Ghana and so killing of the Ghanaians will create problems between me and Ghana”.

“As far as I know, you [Mr. Akufo-Addo] wanted to use this as politics so as to contest for the next presidential election [2008]. I will tell you if that is the case, you are not going to win the election. We have nothing to hide”, Mr. Jammeh claimed.

Ex-Gambia Leader, Yahya Jammeh

Ritual killings, fight at sea cause of deaths  

After Yahya Jammeh was exonerated by ECOWAS and UN for having no hand in the murder of 44 Ghanaians and eight Nigerians in Gambia, he accused Ghana for being directly involved in the killings. 

He stated that it was as a result of “ritual killings” in Ghana and a fight at sea by some “fishermen” as a the cause of deaths. He said during that period (2005), there were rumours of some strange ritual killings ongoing in Ghana.

“Originally when the matter was reported to me, what I thought was maybe ritual killings, because at that time also there were some cases going on in Ghana of ritual killing. There were a lot of rumours of some strange rituals. The other thing that came to mind was that they were all predominantly fishermen. They might have had a fight at sea or somewhere and these people were killed”, Jammeh noted.

Funeral contribution not compensation

Another element worth mentioning in his interview with the newspaper was the issue of compensation. Throughout the interview, he consistently said his government would not regard the money ($500,000) sent to Ghana for “funeral” preparation and re-burial as compensation.

According to him, it was on “humanitarian grounds” and “African solidarity” that caused his government to play that monetary role and not accepting responsibility of the murder.

He added that this was part of the campaign championed by Mr. Akufo-Addo to let Gambia accept the responsibility of the murder and pay compensation, thereby making Gambia liable to the killings.

Yahya Jammeh still insisted that they would not pay any compensation to Ghana, and added, paying compensation could make them “guilty” of committing murder.

“We are not going to pay for compensation; to compensate for what? I made it very clear that if they insist on compensation, we will not accept it simply because we are not responsible for those deaths. That is what we are doing out of humanitarian and out of African solidarity”, then Gambian leader noted.

Yahya Jammeh has been in exile in Equatorial Guinea after losing December 2017 elections to current president, Adama Barrow. Experts say for Jammeh to be extradited to Ghana to face charges and trial for his crimes, the leadership of Ghana must take the leading role.

Reports say that government has received a request by campaign groups Human Rights Watch and Trial International on the extradition and trial of Jammeh to Ghana to face justice. One of the people who will be very happy to see him face trial is Martin Kyere, the only known survivor.

Contact made to the presidency has not been responded to at the time of filing this report. The Manual has also made contacts to Equatorial Guinea. When Yahya Jammeh responds, readers will be well informed.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/858617/ghanaians-killed-in-gambia-akufo-addo-nearly-fought-my-for.html