Liberian, Sierra Leonean Among 2005 migrants massacred in The Gambia

Gibril Ngorr Secka, adviser to the Minister of Interior and former deputy director National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has revealed Liberian, Sierra Leonean, Nigerian Ivorian, Congolese, Senegalese and Togolese nationals were among the West African migrants, who were massacred in The Gambia in July, 2005.

In the 51 names of West African migrants massacred in The Gambia he read to the truth commission on Thursday, he named 1 Liberian, 3 Sierra Leonean, 1 Senegalese, 1 Nigerian, 2 Ivorian, 3 Togolese 1Congolese and the rest Ghanaian.

 

The TRRC Lead Counsel Essa M Faal could not hold on when the season intelligence agent revealed a list of names of the West African migrants who were allegedly massacred by the former President Yahya Jammeh. The document was submitted as an exhibit.

However, the former State Agent who claimed to have obtained the names and details of the migrants from Kairaba Police Station said the list was kept in his documents because he had the belief that someday they would be called to account.

“I had the belief that a day like this is going to come,” Gibril Ngorr Secka said.

Secka told the truth commission while escorting the arrestee’s reroute Kairaba Police Station, Ousman Bagie, the former ADC of ex-President Jammeh who later became the Chief of Defence Staff CDS took him aside to ask whether the arrested migrants were mercenaries which he answered in the negative.

“I told him that they were illegal migrants and left him talking to someone on the phone,” he remarked.

It was his testimony that some of the migrants were held at Kairaba Police Station and others taken to Baba Jobe’s house in Kotu and Paramilitary Headquarters in Kanifing.

“The following morning I received a telephone call from the liason officer at Tanji to inform me that there are corpses at Brufut Ghana Town forest and I went to see the corpses. Shortly, they were put on ambulances and taken to Banjul. I did not know who made the decision,” he said.

The former State Agent said he also received another that a particular sergeant went to the Kairaba Police Station to collect the eight migrants.

“It was then and there that I told him that we are not in control of this case and let us leave it.”