GAMBIA: ACCOUNTS FROM VICTIMS OF APRIL 10 AND 11 SHOOTINGS - A MOTHER REMEMBERS HER SON

Anguish still grips Abdou Karim Jammeh as he grapples with the reality of disability
Abdou Karim could not finish his education and is unemployed. He is still using crutches. 11 years after his fatal shooting, he is still grappling with the memory of what happened. No Government or NGO programme had been officially initiated to address problems of his kind. People had come from abroad to interview him and promised him some form of assistance. After receiving token assistance, they eventually disappeared without trace. This reporter spoke to Abdou Karim to sound his views 11 years after the shooting.
Flashing back on April 10th 2000, Abdou Karim Jammeh, who then was a grade 9 student, attending Sheikh Mass Kah Junior Secondary School, said he was on his way to sit to an exam.
He explained that on that day he waited for a vehicle to take him to school, but could not get one.
Fearing that he might miss his paper, Abdou Karim then decided to walk from Churchill Town to Westfield .
“When I arrived at Westfield , I realised that there was chaos and while I ran I fell down and could not pick myself up,” he reflected.
Abdou Karim said he felt excruciating pain but still tried hard to get up but just could not. It was at this time that the blood convinced him that he has sustained a gun shot.
Lying on the ground in despondency, Jammeh said he then saw two men in a vehicle, who picked him up and took him to RVTH. To cut a long story short, he said he was admitted for four months before he was released with a disability which could not be managed in the Gambia. After years of suffering without getting overseas treatment a concerned tourist from the UK arranged for him to get treatment in Germany. The first operation has been done and is left with the second operation. According to him this has reduced his pain but has not reduced his poverty. He said that some good people at the Atlantic Hotel had given him opportunity to work seasonally in the past but that he was left out this past Tourist season. He depends entirely on charity to pay his house rent, pay transport to go for physiotherapy and meet his daily needs.
He described April 10th 2000 as the darkest day in his life as it was turned upside down.
“This day heralded my transformation from being an able bodied young man to a physically impaired person, “he said
“My education came to an abrupt end because the gun shot wound I sustained on my knee would not heal quickly. The knee became stiff. It is only the intervention of my friend last year which has enabled me to cope better. Without the effort you people are making to make my problem known every year I would die of heart disease because of frustration. I did nothing to be shot and no one has accepted responsibility for shooting me and provide redress. Many Gambians abroad used to come to ask about my problem but no one contacted me now. I have been completely forgotten,” lamented Abdou Karim
“Since some of us suffered severe wounds, we could have felt that we have been adequately compensated if we received the necessary medical treatment. The wounds inflicted on some of us brought our education to an abrupt end. Compensation could have been given in order to enable those interested to continue their study to do so. Those families who lost loved ones can also be compensated, “Abdou Karim said.
According to him, victims of this tragic event are peace loving Gambians. “We are not enemies of the State. We love everybody in The Gambia,” the 30 year old victim declared. “No amount of money can make me get back what I lost on April 10th,” he emphasized.

A MOTHER NURSING THE MEMORY OF A BELOVETH SON
According to the mother her 18 year old son was shot dead on the 10th or 11h April 2000.
“Although no amount of money can replace the life of my son, it is better to console me than leave me in the wilderness, “ the mother lamented in a rather shaky voice.
She said since her son passed away eleven years ago, the Vice President visited her with a delegation and was given D2,300 (Two thousand three hundred dalasi). She went on to say, because of the visit “some of my friends and family members thought that I received compensation from Government. But I keep on telling them that I did not receive monetary compensation from them.”
Reflecting on April 10th 2010, the mother who was a single parent, said on the day in question she left her 18 year-old son sleeping; that before she left for work to Banjul, she gave a shop-keeper money to give to her son when he woke up.
She said that after she left home, she later received a phone call informing her that his son was shot.
“When I heard that my son was shot, I thought he was hit by a rubber bullet, because I never imagined that security officers could have used life bullets against innocent children, “she added.
News of the shooting of her son came to her as a thunderbolt from the blue and it led her to start a vigorous search to find her son.
“Upon hearing that he was shot, I went to almost all the health facilities in the Greater Banjul area with a view to finding him,” she explained.
She said her efforts to find her son on the very day of the incident turned futile.
It was the following day that she set her eye on the body of the child at the mortuary in Banjul.
She described the moment she set her eye on the corpse as the most shocking and terrible episode of her life.
“I could not believe it, because 24 hours ago I left him sleeping on a bed. However, 24 hours later I found him lying in a mortuary soulless,” she expressed.
The mother described the bond between her and the son as very strong.
According to her, the son did not just show concern over the well being of his family, but he was also a leader whose skills won him many friends among the young boys in his neighbourhood.
“My son was the captain of the football team of the neighbourhood. When they played he would bring his share of money and give it to me, “she remembered.
“I am not very particular about monetary compensation. What I need most is to be consoled regularly for the loss.”

EDITOR´S NOTE
Some people prefer to put unpleasant memories under the carpet. Foroyaa considers every happening as a book of life that we should draw lessons from in order to shape a better future. Such tragedies should never be allowed to happen again and the victims should be supported to facilitate the healing of the wounds, physical or social.


Source:foroyaa.gm

The Gambia: Yahya Jammeh must Go; Part 2

By Mathew K Jallow
It is inarguably the most traumatizing day of our history. In one brief moment when time still seem to stand still; sixteen young lives were senselessly cut short by the act of a deranged murderer. It was a day that has remained burnt into our consciousness, a day that The Gambia lost its innocence. April 11, 2000 has come to be known as the day of rage, whose aftermath has left Gambians deeply scared by the madness and the brutality with which such young and innocent lives were massacred. Today, the young blood they spilt on the streets of Kanifing has become the sacrifice they gave for the cause of freeing our beloved motherland from the grip of Yahya Jammeh’s tyranny. After sixteen long years, and three terms as a brutal and incompetent murderer, Gambians deserve a change of regime, so we can once again join the civilized world of nations. This year, the world of politics was stunned by the cascade of near simultaneous revolts across North Africa and the Middle-East; revolts that sought to topple decades of absolute dictatorships, and the successes of the people fighting for liberty and justice, is almost miraculous. As we watch progress across the Maghreb and the Middle-East, we are obliged to ask how long more must we acquiesce to the barbarity of Yahya Jammeh and his looting of our national resources. We are empowered to find solutions to the cancer that is scavenging our country and we have an obligation to do so.  No one will deny that we have been afraid for far too long and the time to be unafraid in now. The need to emulate our neighbors to the north cannot be overemphasized; but more importantly, we owe those children massacred by Yahya Jammeh, their families and our country the responsibility to bring a closure to their sad demise. This year March 26th 2011 will take on an importance as the day Gambians demand the reversal of sixteen years of arbitrary on-man rule; and a day on which the public demand their right to drive freely on the streets of our towns and cities in renegation of Yahya Jammeh’s order banning driving between 9.a.m. to 1.p.m. This order is unconstitutional and constitutes an infringement on our constitutional rights. As a result, Gambians particularly at home are urged to exercise their rights to drive during set-setal hours as a matter of civil right of every Gambian. For life does not have to stop because the streets are invaded by participants coerced into participating in the set-setal in order impress Yahya Jammeh and his cabal for the retention of their jobs. All across the globe Gambians are expressing solidarity with our countrymen and women who just demand their civil rights to drive for pleasure or to attend to personal business. A flier is being provided below for downloading, which is a proclamation of negation of Yahya Jammeh’s driving ban on the last Saturday of each month. Gambian groups across the world, who cannot be present on the ground, will issue statements of supports to our compatriots back home. We urge lawyers, journalists, politicians, doctors, civil servants and business men and women to lead this civil disobedience exercise in order to restore Gambian’s right to drive during set-setal hours 9 a.m to 1 p.m the last Saturday of each month. Below is a downloadable flier which is downloadable for distribution across the country by our friends and supporters at the military and by the youth. In addition, for the first time this year, Gambians across the globe will commemorate the April 11 2000 student massacre in memory of all the young lives lost to the insanity of a megalomaniac.

Balangbaa, March 26^th 2011

Protecting our Rights to Drive

The 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. driving ban on

the last Saturday of each month is unconstitutional and tramples upon our civil rights.

The street cleaning (set-setal) exercise on that day must be voluntary; not coercive.

We, therefore, demand our rights to drive during (set-setal) cleaning hours 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Life does not stop because of the street cleaning (set-setal) exercise. We demand our driving rights.

Gambia Campaign for Civil Disobedience

March 2011

Gambia: April 10-11, 2000, Student Massacre.

It has been almost 11 years since the april 10-11 2000 student massacre in the Gambia but events on those two days are still fresh in the minds of most Gambians. It is undoubtedly one of the saddest days in Gambian history.The Gambian security forces fired live ammunition on student protesters resulting in the death of 14 students and a journalist and also injuring dozens more.

President Jammeh was accused of ordering the shooting of the students, but the government denied the allegations. A government commission of inquiry reportedly concluded that the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) officers were "largely responsible" for many of the deaths and other injuries. The inquiry also revealed that five soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Battalion were responsible for the deaths of two students at Brikamaba. The government stated that the report implicated several PIU officers in the students' deaths and injuries, yet those responsible have never been brought to book.Also to this day the Families of the victims have never been compensated by the Government.Even a rememberance day is forbidden.

The following is an extract from a paper written by Alieu Darboe

On April 10-11, 2000 GAMSU organized a large scale protest that threatened the Jammeh administration. The students demonstrated on April 10, 2000 to protest the alleged beating to death of Ebrima Barry at the hand of fire service officers in Brikama, Western Region. Barry was a secondary school student, whose teacher had told the fire service officers to intervene in disciplining him. Ebrima was reportedly beaten, tortured and later died. Apart from the outrageousness of the fact that fire service officers were asked to discipline a student, the government failed to properly investigate the matter. The GAMSU student leadership made demands and an autopsy report (which was widely believed to be a cover up) stated that Ebrima died of natural causes. A spontaneous student protest ensued at the Gambia College, where a Gambia Students' Union (GAMSU) sub-union existed.

While that was being discussed, a thirteen-year old school girl was allegedly raped by a uniformed paramilitary (intervention police) officer at the Independence Stadium, where an annual inter-schools sports competition was taking place. A doctor‘s examination confirmed the girl was raped and again, GAMSU pressed for answers. After a long delay to bring the paramilitary officers who were on duty at the stadium for the victim to identify her assailant,GAMSU requested a police permit to hold a public protest. This request was denied. Realizing it was their constitutional right to protest, the student leadership called its members to peacefully march toward the capital city of Banjul. They were viciously crushed by a mixture of police and military officers. Sixteen people died, including a Red Cross volunteer/radio journalist and a three-year old child (who was killed by what was reported to be a stray bullet). Fourteen students were killed and several others were injured. GAMSU, which at the time had branches all over the country, did not back down.Upon viewing the violent response of government to the protest of their colleagues in the city, students in the country`s only boarding high school and several other rural towns launched their own protests on April 11; and like their colleagues, they were violently quashed and several hundreds of students were detained country wide.

Alieu Darboe, was the President of the University Students` Union in The Gambia from 1999-2001. He was also at one time the Secretary General of GAMSU and a member of the GAMSU leadership that led the April 10, 2000 student protests. He was also the deponent to the suit against the state that eventually freed all detained students.

Additional source:wikipedia