Following Fatal Shootings Of April Student Demonstrators, Government Rejects Commission's And Coroner's Reports

The Government of President Yahya Jammeh has emphatically rejected recommendations made by the Commission of Inquiry into the April 10 and11 student demonstrations and the findings of Coroner's Inquest into the fatal shootings. The government refused to accept the Commission and Coroner's findings and recommendations that top police officers on the ground at Kanifing on the morning of the fatal shootings should accept responsibility for the tragedy.

In a press briefing on Friday, the Attorney General and Secretary of State for Justice, Pap Cheyassin Secka, announced government's reaction to the report.

In a statement to the press, Mr. Secka said the first fundamental point regarding governments rejection of the findings 'is that the Commission did not inquire into the causes of the breakdown of public order on 10th and 11th April 2000', which he said, should have been its fundamental point of departure. The Commission's failure to do so, he argued, deprived it of the opportunity to address such a fundamental point.

He said the alleged torture to death of student Ebrima Barry by Brikama fire officers and the alleged rape of a girl-child called Binta Manneh by an unidentified security officer, have been given as reasons for the public disorder but added that 'it must be appreciated that no evidence was put before the Commission to warrant the unfair and false allegation that there was any attempt at cover-up.'

Mr. Secka maintained that everything humanly possible had been done to ascertain the primary facts regarding the alleged rape by a security officer in uniform to no avail. He said 'all security officers on duty were paraded but Binta Manneh could not identify her assailant. No medical report was produced. There is in fact, as yet, no certainty that she was rapped, when and where.' In an apparent attempt at shifting the blame to the press, Secretary Secka said government regretted the Commission's failure to examine how the two 'ostensible causes' were reported in the press, and to what extent that led to the breakdown of public order. He added that government also regretted the Commission's failure to examine the efforts exerted by, among others, officials of the departments of state for the Interior and Religious Affairs and Education, as according to him, this would have shown beyond the shadow of a doubt 'that government had done everything possible to resolve the issue, and had indeed every right to expect that its efforts would resolve the issues amicably.'

The Attorney General also argued that the Commission's failure to enquire into the causes of the event (as opposed to the event itself) deprived it of the opportunity to consider the fact that student meetings leading up to April 10 were held in secret and the intention could only have been to catch the security forces unawares. Inquiring into the causes, he argued, 'would have enabled the Commission to assist the government in determining that the destruction to property to the tune of D16, 017,137.50 in two days can only be the result of a well-planned and well executed operation.' He further argued that such an enquiry would have brought into light 'the fact that the Inspector General of Police was willing to provide the students with police escort to stage a peaceful march if only they would apply for a permit, which they never did.' He disclosed that due to such reasons, 'the Gambia government has no difficulty associating itself with the recommendations, but declines to press any charges' for reasons better addressed in its general conclusions.

On the findings of the Coroner's Inquest, before which eyewitness accounts were given and recorded, Justice secretary Secka claimed that the Coroner did not state any opinion as to the commission or non-commission of a crime or crimes by any persons, known or unknown, adding that the Chief Justice, having examined the records of the Coroner under S. 10 of CAP 7:04, must be deigned to have satisfied himself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of the findings and verdict.

He exonerated Interior Secretary Ousman Badjie by stating that 'the refusal by students to comply with lawful orders by the minister to calm down and to move to the GTTI premises, constituted a defiance to constituted authority and posed a definite threat to life, property and national security which the security forces must respect.'

Justice secretary Secka who immediately after reading his statement walked out of the press briefing without answering any questions from journalists, concluded that 'while government does not agree with all the recommendations of the commission of inquiry and the Coroner's report, the government nevertheless appreciates the hard work and dedication put in by both the commission's members and the Coroner.'


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