Gambia: relatives with missing loved ones seek answers

By Mustapha K Darboe

BANJUL, Gambia (AA) - Amadou Sillah, a cadet officer in the Gambian army, had already set a date for his wedding but he would never get the chance to tie the knot with the woman he loves.

He would be listed as another gone missing in Gambia under its former authoritarian leader Jammeh.

Sillah who joined the army in 1992, went missing after he was accused of involvement in the Nov. 11, 1994 attempted coup, just four months after Jammeh himself ousted the country’s first leader Dawda Jawara, who had reigned over 20 years.

Amadou was his father’s first son and was the one taking care of the family at the time he went missing, Mamudou Sillah, a younger brother who reported his case to the police, told Anadolu agency.

Citizens of the small West African nation of Gambia are now seeking answers on the last known whereabouts of their relatives who went missing under the leadership of the country’s ousted military ruler Yahya Jammeh.

Since the downfall of the Gambian dictator, security forces have been asked to free all political prisoners and people illegally detained in various detention centers under Jammeh.

President Adama Barrow’s government has also asked Gambians to report missing people to the police.

Gambian Interior Minister Mai Fatty has already issued a directive for the police to receive complaints pertaining to missing people.

- 'We are assuming that they are dead'

“I can confirm that a directive has been issued and people are complaining about their missing people and an investigation is ongoing,” Yankuba Sonko, Gambia’s inspector general of police, told Anadolu Agency.

A Gambian police source, who prefers to remain anonymous, told Anadolu Agency that the list of missing numbered at least 30 as of Monday -- a significant number in a country of 1.9 million people

The source said the list was cross-referenced by the National Intelligence Agency and the Prison Department but both agencies said the missing were not in their custody.

“We are assuming that they are dead,” he said.

Jammeh ruled Gambia for 22 years, during which he was accused of human rights abuses including disappearances, protracted detentions and summary executions.

Fatou Jabang is also without news of her husband, Manlafi Corr, who went missing following a failed military coup in the country against Yahya Jammeh in 2006.

Corr, who left Jabang pregnant with their only child, was arrested by Gambian security forces and accused of being involved in the coup attempt.

“I am still looking for him,” Jabang told Anadolu.

The government later issued a press release announcing that the arrested soldiers which included the chief of the National Intelligence Agency at the time, Daba Marenah, had escaped with four others, including Corr, as they were being transported to the notorious Janjanbureh prison around 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Banjul.

- Mysterious circumstances

The circumstances surrounding Corr's escape from a military escort remain a mystery.

Families of journalist Ebrima Manneh, who went missing in 2006, and Jasaja Kujabi, a worker at Jammeh’s farm, who was also picked up by state operatives in 2005, both confirmed to Anadolu that they had no news of them.

Yet, It has been close to a month since President Barrow requested for all political prisoners and illegal detainees to be released.

“We have reported his case to the police but his name did not show up on the list of those who were found. They told us that they will investigate further,” Adama Manneh, the journalist’s sister who reported the case to the police, told Anadolu Agency.

Barrow has always said his government was dedicated to unearthing the truth but would often emphasized reconciliation instead of punishing the perpetrators of alleged crimes.

Madi Jobarteh a Gambian human rights activist, said Jammeh and his accomplices must face justice for their “crimes”.

Madi said: “Their actions were a violation of the rule of law under a democratic dispensation. An infringement of the law and destruction of a right must be redressed.

“This is a feature of any democratic and civilized society. Failure to hold accountable those who destroy rights and violate the law leads to impunity, which poses a direct and clear danger to peace and security of individuals and society as a whole.”

Meanwhile, Lamin Camara, a Gambian human rights lawyer, said the family of the missing people can seek redress in Gambian courts.

“The family members of missing people can seek redress from the court. They can sue the government and get damages and the courts can grant it, in which case the government has to comply and pay them,” Camara told Anadolu Agency.

“They need to identify the people involved in the perpetration of those heinous offenses and identify whose authority they were acting upon.

“Protracted detention without trial in this country has been the norm. But they can all seek redress,” Camara added.