Woman raped by Jammeh's witch hunters

A resident (name witheld) of Makunbaya who was abducted by witch hunters in the early hours of Tuesday, on the 25th day of February 2009, at about 11:00am in Makumbaya village has alleged that she was raped by one of her captors.


According to her, she was raped by a young man while she was in captivity in a compound they called Baba Jobe’s compound. The victim who was in an angry mood, said she was at the Makumbaya village garden when she and her colleagues received a messenger who claimed to be sent by the Alkalo, Alhagie Kujabi; that all the Gardeners should immediately go and answer to a very important guest from the president.

She said whilst on their way to the Alkalo, they met with the so-called witch hunters that were accompanied by armed personnel and young men and women in green clothes. The woman added that after she was abducted by the group, she was told that she was possessed by demons that “gave her their shirts without her notice”, and that being the case, she had to go to Kololi with them in order for her to be cured of the spell.

The distraught woman said upon their arrival at Kololi, she was told by the witch hunters that she should drink the concoction so that they could start her treatment. She said her captors forced her to drink the concoction; and shortly after drinking the liquid that night, she said she fell down and went into a trance and did not know where she was or what was happening to her.

She said a young man raped her while she was under detention at Kololi; that she was raped during the second day of her detention at Kololi. She said while in captivity, this young man would come to her and ask her to take bath; and that while she was taking bath; the young man would stand and look at her while she was naked. She said whenever she planned to go to the toilet to urine or defecate; the young man would insist that he was going to accompany her.

She lamented that it was during one of those instances that the young man wrestle her to the ground and forcefully raped her.

The victim said after undergoing this ordeal, her daughter who is a police at the Banjulinding Police Station came to Kololi and requested for her release. She said that was how she regained her freedom. She said if she sees the man who raped her, she would recognise him.
Foroyaa Newspaper

Ghana to unravel deaths of Ghanaians in Gambia

Ghanaian vice president, John Dramani Mahama on Friday re-echoed the commitment of his government to work towards unravelling the circumstances that led to the death of 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia.

Meeting with a joint United Nations – ECOWAS Commission Mission which is investigating the incident at the Osu Castle, Vice President Mahama stated that in as much as Ghana would like to improve her relation with its West African neighbour, it would, nonetheless, not gloss over alleged killing of her citizens.

A known advocate for the victims, dating back to his days as a Member of Parliament, Vice President Mahama reiterated the desire to work towards ascertaining the reasons that led to the death of the victims so as to assuage the pain of the distraught family members.

Ghanaians woke up to the unpleasant news on July 23, 2005, of the alleged killing of 44 of their compatriots and nine other West African nationals in the Gambia.

The news generated a national furore against The Gambia, compelling the then government to press the ECOWAS Commission and the United Nations to conduct an independent investigation into the case, so as to establish the complicity or otherwise of the Gambian security apparatus in the melee.

Subsequently, the two institutions did set up a joint mission on August 15, 2008, tasked with investigating the issue under the chairmanship of eminent Jamaican diplomat, Ambassador Curtis Ward.

The presence of the mission in the country was to enable the team interview some surviving victims and collate additional information from other sources that might help to shed some light on the incident.

Vice President Mahama expressed government’s confidence in the expertise of the team, assuring them that Ghana would respect their verdict, although he also conveyed the anxiety of the generality of the Ghanaian populace over the issue.

He said Ghana wants the “unfortunate” incident investigated so that those found culpable for the dastardly act would be brought to book and also allow for a thawing in the relationship between the two countries.

Vice President Mahama also expressed delight about the cooperation received from The Gambia, which he said, would enable a successful closure of what he described as a “sad chapter” in the relation between the two countries.

Ambassador Curtis Ward told the Vice President that some headway had been made in forming some conclusions as to what happened, although he conceded that it would still take some time before a definite report would be issued.

Ambassador Ward said the team had received cooperation from the two countries and has received similar support from surviving persons, and families of some of the victims.

Other members of the mission included Justice Ariranga Pillay, President of the South African Development Community Tribunal, Justice Albert Redhead, a retired Appeal Court Judge and Mr Morie Lengor, a security expert with the ECOWAS Commission.

Source: GNA

Halifa’s Release is Great News but Witch-Hunting Must Stop!

GPU – USA PRESS RELEASE

The Gambia Press Union-USA welcomes the unconditional release of NADD flag bearer and Foroyaa editor Halifa Sallah by the Gambian authorities.

The arrest and detention of Mr. Sallah was an act of senseless criminality that has received its fair share of condemnation both at home and abroad. We commend Mr. Sallah and all those who raised their voices to condemn his arrest and call for his immediate release. We also commend all Gambians and friends of The Gambia who took the time to read and sign our petition on stopping the madness in our country.

But while we welcome Mr. Sallah’s release, we continue to demand that the senseless arrest and detention of civilians on bogus charges of witchcraft must stop now. President Jammeh’s bizarre act of paranoia and blatant disregard for human dignity and the rule of law in ordering the raiding of government offices and villages and the arrest of thousands of innocent civilians including women and the elderly on bogus charges of witchcraft must be immediately brought to an end.

There is no law in our constitution or law books that define alleged witchcraft as a crime. Despite this fact, Jammeh orders innocent men, women and the elderly of both sexes to be rounded up by armed soldiers and supposed sorcerers from Guinea, and forced to drink concoctions which cause them to faint, vomit, urinate or even defecate on themselves in the presence of other people, an extremely humiliating experience in Gambian culture. GPU–USA strongly condemns these outrageous violations of human rights and human dignities and calls on all Gambians, friends of The Gambia, the international community; human rights organizations, and other interested groups to bring pressure to bear on Jammeh to put an immediate halt to these senseless persecutions and humiliations of innocent people.

The GPU-USA specifically calls on President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Representive Susan Rice, U.S State Department agencies, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the British Parliament, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the European Union, the Commonwealth, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, the VOA, the BBC and other international media and human rights groups to intervene and help rid the Gambian people of a regime headed by a mentally unstable president who is subjecting the Gambian population to unprecedented levels of oppression and persecution. The senseless witch-hunting must stop now!

Signed on behalf of GPU-USA
Demba Baldeh, Public Relations Officer
Baba Galleh Jallow, Secretary General