Whether the Media Bill is passed or not, this question will be answered
someday. We will NEVER forget this massacre. I mean NEVER!
A National Tragedy by Momodou Ceesay
Unarmed Student Demonstrators Gunned Down in Broad Daylight
The pages of human history are littered with accounts of man's
mistreatment of man,yet certain species of misconduct are so vicious, so
offensive to the code of decency, they shock the conscience. Thus murder
is murder, yet it is all the more shocking to the human experience when
committed by a mother against daughter, father against son, or by one
loved one against another. Surely we are no less appalled when a
government decides with full deliberation to turn its instruments of war
upon its citizenry for no other reason than to quell their determination
to exercise their democratic and constitutionally guaranteed rights.
On April 10, 2000 the government of The Gambia committed such an offense
against its citizens of the most innocent age when it ordered fire on a
peaceful demonstration of students as young as 3 years of age. Some were
cut down instantly and still others sent home with their garments dipped
in blood.
From all indications on the ground, we have determined that the peaceful
demonstration undertaken by the Gambian students on April 10, 2000 was
entirely justifiable and wholly consistent with their democratic right
guaranteed by The Gambian Constitution, and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. From all accounts, the following events transpired:
On March 9, 2000 Ebrima Barry, a student enrolled at Brikama School,
entered into a dispute with his teacher over his seating designation at
the school
The Brikama Fire Department was called which promptly arrested Ebrima
Barry and detained him. In the course of his detention at the Brikama Fire
Department, he was stripped of his clothes, his head shaved, his body
covered in wet cement and made to ingest the same. Furthermore, Ebrima was
compelled to carry from one location to another no less than 40-60 bags of
cement, one at a time. Ebrima subsequently died from the injuries he
received in the course of his detention.
A man in uniform presumed to be a police officer raped a student Binta
Manneh, at the Stadium, on March 10, 2000. 4. The Gambian Student Union
(GAMSU) was outraged and properly communicated the concerns of its
membership to the authorities at the failure to arrest and prosecutes
culpable persons.
The government's inaction convinced students that the invocation of their
democratic right to peaceably gather and express their concerns was
necessary to demonstrate their resolve that justice should prevail for
their two fellow students.
On the morning of April 10, 2000, GAMSU membership was to first assemble
at the GTTI where their placards were stored. However, on arrival,
paramilitary forces chanting "peace by force confronted them."
The paramilitary fired in the air at the GTTI, however it is not clear
whether it was live ammunition, blank shots, or rubber bullets that were
used at this time. What is certain is that the paramilitary fired in the
air in an attempt to disperse the students.
Even though the students at GTTI were dispersed after a brief skirmish
with the paramilitary, other students en route got word that their
colleagues were being fired upon and they scattered. Clusters of students
throughout the Serekunda area encountered paramilitary forces in pursuit.
In an effort to keep the paramilitary at bay, students burned tires and
defended themselves with stones as they marched on.
When the demonstration reached the paramilitary base at Bakau and at The
Red Cross Headquarters, live ammunition was fired into the students on
orders from someone still not disclosed killing Omar Barrow, and wounding
several. Omar Barrow was a media practitioner at Sud FM Radio Station who
was acting as a Red Cross Volunteer.
At no time was any student armed with anything other than stones.
Our very humanity, our right of domicile within the realm of human decency
is violated and our objection must be emphatically registered no matter
the cost. And so it shall be.
However, we are determined not to surrender to the temptation of vengeance
as comes most naturally to any human being confronted with such calamitous
circumstances. Though our blood is turned to bile, we prefer to draw a
lesson from the pages of our own prophets like Martin Luther King. Those
whose blood has been shed shall not shed blood; and those who have known
tears shall wipe them from the faces of others. In the quest for justice,
the bravest offer their lives and lay claim to no one else's.
We will survive this. However, we shudder at the specter of Somalia,
Liberia, or Sierra Leone lurking in the twilight. A government determined
to rule at all costs, costs a lot. Eventually, the totality of its misdeeds
will grind down the very fabric of human endurance and shatter it.
Dissent exists in all known societies, human and otherwise, and must be
allowed peaceful expression. That is a necessary condition to peaceful co-
existence. Gambians will reclaim our country, how this occurs is entirely
dependent on the conduct of the renegade government. As in all critical
moments like this a battle rages within each citizen; a battle between
peaceful resistance and bloody vengeance. A government that insists on
brutality aids the latter and not the former. And then God help us all. We
must all work together so that that day never arrives.
Question is who ordered the shooting? WHO & WHY? Children as young as 3
years old!
http://www.gambiansonline.com/StudentMassacre1.htm
Gambians Online " Designed With The Gambian People In Mind"
http://www.gambiansonline.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
