By Ebrima G. Sankareh
Unimpeachable sources from State House report that President Yahya Jammeh ordered the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Right (ACHPR), an organ of the African Union tasked with the promotion and protection of human and peoples rights in Africa, to immediately close a human rights seminar. The seminar was organized in collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), to train journalists from countries in the West Africa sub-Region on issues of human and peoples’ rights.
The workshop, which started at the Center’s Kairaba Avenue headquarters, Banjul, The Gambia, grind to a halt after an open forum session that began 11:00am this morning and ended at 2:00pm our sources say. When local participants resumed for the afternoon seminar that was scheduled to run from 19-20 October 2007, Dr. Feyi Ogunade, Senior Legal Officer at the center told them that the workshop had to stop immediately and he had no explanation to offer.
According to our correspondent, twelve (12) countries, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and The Gambia were supposed to benefit from the training with one journalist from each of these countries, except The Gambia, where 6 human rights journalists were to be part of the training aimed at training West African Human Rights Journalists who will organize similar programmes in their home countries.
Our sources revealed that following the strongly worded presidential warning, participants from the 11 West African countries who were poised to take off for the Gambia were sent emergency notices to cancel their flights due to regrettable circumstances.
Barely two weeks ago, President Yahya Jammeh’s human rights excesses were once again brought before the glare of international news media following the conclusion of a similar seminar by the London based Amnesty International that eventually led Amnesty’s staff to Sare Ngai Police Station where, they found Councilor Ousman Rambo Jatta who was detained incommunicado for 385 days.
Stop Press! President Jammeh Continues To Hunt Rambo
Rambo shows journalists shirt he wore for 385 days while in detention
The Serious Crimes Unit dragged Ousman Rambo Jatta before the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court this morning. At the court, the presiding Magistrate surprised everyone when he said there was no file before the court to specify the charges. The case was adjourned indefinitely.