Breaking News: United Nations & ECOWAS Investigate Deaths of Ghanaians in The Gambia

By EBRIMA G. SANKAREH Editor-In-Chief

Ambassador Curtis Ward heads genocide probe

It all began in July 2005 when the autocratic regime of President Yahya Jammeh allegedly acting on a fake intelligence report that a team of well-armed West African mercenaries was destined to it shores to seize power and restore democracy and the rule of law, that it rounded up several dozens African immigrants in the Senegalese border post of Amdalaye and in brake neck speed, drove to Barra village in The Gambia’s North Bank Division, 7 sea miles off the capital, Banjul. Once at Barra, the doomed immigrants were hurriedly transferred to a Gambia Navy boat with masked soldiers brandishing AK-47 riffles. In the next 15 minutes the ill-fated boat had docked at The Gambia Marine Headquarters in Banjul where a team of thugs and rogues masquerading as officers, descended on the boat and began tying the 50 plus innocent immigrants mostly Ghanaians, with cables, robes and handcuffs in a scene described by eyewitnesses as a chilling imitation of the horrors of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Present at the scene were current Chief of Defense Staff, General Lang Tombong Tamba, his predecessor Colonel Ndure Cham, current Interior Minister, Ousman Sonko a notorious cold blood killer and a rapacious rapist who was Presidential Guards' Commander, Ngorr Secka of the notorious National Intelligence Agency (currently Deputy Ambassador in Guinea Bissau) and of course, the most feared and most lethal executioner, Kawsu Kalagi Kamara (also spelled Camara) mostly known by his clownish alias of false bravado, Bombarde- the bomber. It was during this rather frantic scene at the Marines, that Bombarde inadvertently dropped his masked reportedly gasping for oxygen, and once our sources saw his face, the predictions for the immigrants were dire. They were separated in batches and detained in several private residences including a house owned by President Jammeh’s former ally and erstwhile Majority Leader of the Gambian Parliament Hon. Baba Jobe. In the days that followed, these immigrants were bounded together and headed to hell in The Gambia’s Siffoe farms where they were brutally butchered and then littered in the farms while others were decapitated and limbs thrown in the sea. As if by divine intervention, a few managed to escape and fled to Ghana Town where their harrowing tales of torture sent chills in the spines of villagers. Since The Gambia Echo was the first newspaper to establish a nexus between the criminal regime and the mysterious bodies found around Siffoe and all the peripheral villages, in July, 2005, it's gratifying to note, today, that finally, the United Nations and ECOWAS are poised to thoroughly investigate these serious crimes of genocide “to help bring about a peaceful closure to this matter, consistent with the principles of justice and respect for human rights and dignity,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.”

Consistent with this spirit, a joint United Nations-ECOWAS fact-finding team on the death of a number of Ghanaian nationals found buried in The Gambia in 2005 was launched Friday in Abuja, according to a statement by the ECOWAS Commission issued on Friday in Abuja. Mr. Curtis Ward leads the team, which includes a representative each appointed by the governments of The Gambia and Ghana.

According to the statement, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas officiated the launching in the presence of Mr. Sammy Kum Buo, Director of Africa II Division in the Department of Political Affairs at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and of officials of the High Commissions of The Gambia and Ghana in Abuja. According to the statement, the fact-finding team, which will be supported by experts, will be headquartered at the ECOWAS Abuja Commission.
 
 Mr. Curtis Ward, who was jointly appointed by the United Nations and ECOWAS, would visit The Gambia and Ghana shortly for preliminary discussions with government officials says the release. It said that the joint UN-ECOWAS team was established at the request of the governments of The Gambia and Ghana to facilitate efforts by both governments to bring peaceful closure to the matter. "The final resolution of the matter will also help to restore and strengthen the traditionally cordial relations between the two countries," it said.

Editor’s Note: Better late than never!!

Investigator's Biography?

CURTIS A. WARD (B.A., J.D., LL.M.)

Curtis A. Ward, an international lawyer, is founder and Chief Operating Officer of Curtis Ward Associates LLC. He has extensive experience in international affairs, international, regional and national security capacity building, geopolitical issues; and dealing with regional and international organizations. He is a former Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations Security Council; and a former Expert Adviser to the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC).

As the CTC’s Expert Adviser and CTC Liaison with Regional and International Organizations, he developed the CTC’s anti-terrorism capacity-building technical assistance facilitation program. Also at the CTC, he assessed implementation by governments of the counter-terrorism legislative and operational measures mandated by Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001) and other related anti-terrorism resolutions.

Ambassador Ward has made presentations, including as keynote speaker, at over 25 conferences, meetings and seminars in 17 countries on counter-terrorism issues. He has participated in a number of roundtable discussions and lectured on counter-terrorism and UN-related issues, including highlighting the nexus between security and development. He has written on counter-terrorism capacity-building issues and other related security topics.

While serving on the UN Security Council, Ambassador Ward served as the first Chairman of the Security Council Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations; as member of a Security Council Mission to the Great Lakes Region of Africa; and as Chairman of the Security Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Brahimi Report on United Nations Peace Operations. He also served as Chairman of Working Group 2: on Measures to Strengthen the Capacity of Sates to Implement Targeted Sanctions - in the Stockholm Process on Implementation of Targeted Sanctions, sponsored by the Government of Sweden