Kemo Cham, AfricaNews reporter in Dakar, Senegal
Calls for action to be taken against Gambia's leader, Yahya Jammeh, has intensified, with Human Rights activists affiliated with the Commonwealth petitioning the international organization to call him to order.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) wants the Gambian leader barred from taking part in the upcoming Common Wealth Summit to be held in Trinidad and Tobago, this November.
‘‘With so many new regional and international alliances, the Commonwealth must think about the value it adds to the international community. Our view is of course that the Commonwealth is not just about the Heads and governments but about the approximately 1.6 billion people who live in it. Most are poor and oppressed, living under regimes that are often benchmarks of bad governance and human rights violation,’’ the director of CHRI said in a statement sent to the Gambia Eco, an online newspaper based in the US.
In an open letter addressed to the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, outgoing Chairman of Commonwealth, which appeared on the Sunday Vision, the Sunday edition of the New Vision, a pro-government newspaper in Uganda, CHRI director, Maja Daruwala, urged the Ugandan leader to rein in his Gambian colleague, Yahya Jammeh, for his unbecoming attitude against Human Rights activists.
Maja Daruwala said Yahya Jammeh’s statements flout the jealously guarded Commonwealth principles.
‘‘In view of the universal condemnation and concern at the statements of the President of Gambia, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) strongly urges you to seek a clear repudiation of his statement and a strong re-affirmation of his commitment to the values of the Commonwealth,’’ the CHRI director said.
He went on: ‘‘in the absence of this, we recommend that no invitation be extended to the President of Gambia to attend the upcoming CHOGM in Trinidad.’’
President Museveni, who assumed the chairmanship of the grouping of former British colonies in November 2007, when Uganda hosted the summit, is expected to step down come November 29, giving way to the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago as new chair.
The CHRI director pointed to the Common Wealth’s commitment to its responsibility, arguing that Zimbabwe, for instance, was suspended for flouting its principles after botched elections and subsequent violence.
Jammeh, he said, cannot be treated preferentially.
A former army Lieutenant and coup leader turned president, Yahya Jammeh made headlines earlier in September this year when, in a television address, he threatened to kill ‘saboteurs’ of his government.
‘‘If you think that you can collaborate with so-called human rights defenders, and get away with it, you must be living in a dream world. I will kill you, and nothing will come out of it,’’ he was quoted as saying.
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