Gambian President Denies Involvement In Journalist's Murder

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BANJUL, Gambia (AFP)--Gambia's president Yahya Jammeh Monday denied in a television interview his government was involved in the 2004 murder of prominent journalist Deyda Hydara.

"(The) government has for long been accused by the international community and so-called human rights organizations of the murder of Deyda Hydara, but we have no stake in this issue," Jammeh told GRTS state television in an interview broadcast live.

Hydara, the editor and co-founder of the independent newspaper The Point and the Gambia correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP), was gunned down by unidentified gunmen in his car on the outskirts of Banjul Dec. 16, 2004.

Over the years human rights organizations and media rights watchdogs have repeatedly voiced suspicions that the Gambian security services were involved in the killing and dismissed the official government investigation into the murder as a smoke screen.

"So Deyda Hydara is dead but who killed him? Nobody knows. The West has long accused me for his death but I know they are against me and as a result, I will never depend on them for their so-called aid," Jammeh told state television.

The president insisted that the ongoing investigation into the slaying points to Senegalese involvement.

According to Jammeh the Senegalese ex-husband of one of Hydara's female colleagues, whom the government said was in love with the veteran journalist, was in town on the day of the murder.

"The eyewitnesses of the killing of journalist Deyda Hydara are currently in neighboring Senegal and that all attempts by the National Intelligence Agency to talk to them in order to complete their investigations have proven futile," he added.

Hydara's family couldn't be reached for comment Monday.

Gambia, a tiny West-African country which nestles inside Senegal, has been criticized in recent years for its human rights record. In its 2009 year report Amnesty International said opponents of Jammeh's government, journalist and human rights defenders have been unlawfully detained and some times forced to flee the country.

Jammeh, an outspoken military officer and former wrestler, has ruled the former U.K. colony since seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1994.

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  06-08-091215ET
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