Jammeh massacre survivor doubts 'Ghanaianess' of reburied victims

A survivor of the massacre of about 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia has cast doubts on the remains of the eight bodies alleged to be Ghanaian victims that were reburied at the Osu Cemetery in 2009, claiming they are not the actual remains of the Ghanaians who were killed and buried in a mass grave in the Gambia in 2005.

Martin Kyere, a survivor and spokesperson for the Gambian massacre victims’ families, based his doubts on the fact that no DNA testing was conducted on the remains that were exhumed from a mass grave in the Gambia in 2009, nearly four years after the mass burial in the Gambia, and reburied at the Osu Cemetery.

Here are excerpts of the interview with Martin Kyere

He also said there was a heavy stench around the coffins containing the eight bodies when they were brought to the funeral grounds at the forecourt of the State House, adding the coffins were not opened.

Martin’s comments are contained in an upcoming documentary film titled “The Massacre of Ghanaians in The Gambia: Justice in Limbo?” that was to premiere Thursday, February 27, 2020 in Accra.

The documentary by the Jammeh2Justice Ghana Campaign, a Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) examines the true events that occurred before, during and after the murder of the 44 Ghanaians and other West African migrants and was put together following months of field investigations and research undertaken in five West African countries – Senegal, Gambia, Togo, Nigeria and five regions in Ghana.

It is recalled that in July 2005, about 56 West African migrants including about 44 Ghanaians who were using an unapproved route through the Gambia to seek greener pastures in Europe were reportedly killed in The Gambia. The eight Ghanaians were summarily killed by the Junglers, a paramilitary unit within the Gambian military that takes orders directly from then President Yahya Jammeh on the first night, July 23, 2005, when they arrived in The Gambia and their bodies dumped by the road in front of Brufut Forest, near Ghanatown, a town predominantly inhabited by Ghanaians living in the Gambia.

The remaining migrants were shot over several days in Cassamance in Senegalese territory. Martin luckily escaped.