Gambia exhumes remains of 7 soldiers killed in 1994

By Mustapha K. Darboe

BANJUL, Gambia - The nation’s Truth Commission probing human rights violations by former President Yahya Jammeh exhumed the remains of seven soldiers believed to have been killed by the military leadership following a July 1994 coup.

The mass grave was found at Yundum Barracks, a military encampment outside Banjul.

Jammeh and his colleagues reportedly killed nearly two dozen soldiers accused of organizing a counter coup on November 11 that year.

Lead investigator Thomas Gomez said the grave could contain more than seven bodies and there are two more graves to excavate.

Eleven members of the Commission, staff, investigators and families of victims visited the site Wednesday to look at the remains.

Investigators have found seven electric wires reportedly used to tie the hands of the executed soldiers.

“Seven [pairs of] underwear were also recovered and this could attest to the fact that they were almost half-naked when they were being buried,” said Gomez.

The next stage of the identification process will begin with DNA samples.