In what many would consider a ‘slow news week’, the Banjul government attracted the sort of publicity which in most weeks would have passed unnoticed under the global news radar.
Last week Amnesty International revealed that the government had executed about nine of the country’s 47 death row prisoners. Amnesty International added that further executions were to follow “in the coming days”. The recent executions come as a shock not least because the last State sanctioned execution occurred in 1985.
At the time of writing President Yahya Jammeh’s motives for persevering with the executions are still unclear although some of the executed individuals had been arrested on treason allegations. Unfortunately Jammeh’s latest pronouncements indicate that more executions are to follow. In early last week’s press release, Jammeh asserted: “By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter; there is no way my government will allow 99% of the population to be held to ransom by criminals.”
President Jammeh’s government appears to be backtracking somewhat on the back of the criticism it has faced since Amnesty International’s revelations. In a statement released late last week the government muddied already murky waters by appearing to refer to Amnesty International’s report as mere speculation. It has to date failed to clarify either one way or the other whether it has indeed executed any prisoners at all.
Ousainou Darboe, leader of the UDP opposition party has called on the government to reveal the whereabouts of the nine prisoners said to have been executed in this seemingly first round of capital punishments. “If the government denies that any execution has taken place, it should go further and parade all those on death row on TV for their families and the public to see them. If the execution has indeed taken place, the international community should consider imposing travel bans on Jammeh and his ministers,” Darboe said.
The second strand of Darboe’s statement appears to have been assimilated and heeded by Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign affairs supremo. In a counter statement in response to Jammeh’s threats to execute all prisoners on death row within the next month, Ashton demanded an immediate cessation of all executions. “In light of these executions, the European Union will urgently consider an appropriate response,” she added.
If the government’s latest statements are to be used as a barometer to gauge its determination to follow through on the promise of further executions, it may well appear that its appetite has been quenched by the furore which has enveloped it since its internal affairs became breaking global news. Jammeh’s unpredictability however implies that the preceding statement must be absorbed in tandem with a disclaimer. Now in his fourth term since he came to power via a coup d’etat in 1994, Jammeh continues to lead a government which pays little to no regard to matters relating to civil liberties, human rights and press freedom. In spite of his ego and unstinting obduracy the country’s heavy reliance on foreign aid means that Jammeh can ill afford to alienate the EU and the international community who are responsible for propping up its precariously unstable economy.
No comments:
Post a Comment