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Momodou
Denmark
11681 Posts |
 Posted - 16 Feb 2008 : 16:52:00
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Vanished in The Gambia
Culled from the Quarterly Magazine of the Commonwealth Press Union
Don’t let The Gambia become another weak link in the Commonwealth chain;
Writes Harry Wilson
If I wanted to accurately reflect where on the scale of importance the case of the Gambian journalist Ebrima Manneh currently sits, I wouldn’t be talking about him in the first six pages of this magazine.
Instead, I would mention Manneh towards the back of this publication where you might skim over, completely forget about or even miss entirely his story. At most, he would be an afterthought - something that you might vaguely recall but then let slip quickly out your memory.
It wouldn’t be your fault, really; after all, how often do you read about a journalist from the smallest country in mainland Africa who’s been missing (at the time of writing) for one year, four months and 18 days? No, me neither.
Of course, those of us concerned about the state of press freedom in the Commonwealth want to keep the plight of many journalists who have suffered the indignity and injustice of violence and intimidation front and centre; our colleagues in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean, the Pacific and many other parts of Africa all deserve our continued attention.
But because an organisation such as the Commonwealth is only as strong as its weakest link, let’s for a moment keep Manneh and The Gambia foremost in our minds. What is happening to journalists there like Manneh makes that already poor country even more bereft - not financially, but in an ethical and moral sense.
What’s interesting - and the Commonwealth should take note of this - is that a regional African institution could be about to help change that, a point to which I’ll return shortly.
Manneh, the former State House reporter with The Gambia’s Daily Observer newspaper, went missing on July 11, 2006, shortly after the African Union Summit concluded in The Gambia. A number of press freedom organisations, including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), have reported that Manneh is alleged to have passed on information to a foreign journalist who later wrote an article on the summit that criticised President Yahya Jammeh’s government.
Many in The Gambia believe the country’s security services, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), arrested Manneh after the summit. Both the NIA and Gambian police have denied they are holding Manneh - despite a journalist with the Foroyaa newspaper identifying him in a jail cell in Fatoto, 400km east of the capital Banjul, in late December 2006. Manneh was next seen in July 2007 at Banjul’s Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital, where he was said to be receiving treatment for high blood pressure. From there, he was moved to the capital’s Mile Two Central Prison. It was the last time he was seen.
Some now believe Manneh is dead. An IFJ source told that organisation that officers at Mile Two Central Prison had taken Manneh from his cell in July and said he “would not see the next day’. Others, like Demba Jawo, ex-president of the Gambia Press Union, believe Manneh is still alive and being held somewhere in the country.
In truth, Manneh’s colleagues, friends and family might fear the worst but have no real idea if he’s dead or alive. All they know is that he disappeared.
But an answer to exactly what fate has befallen Manneh might be just around the corner. The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) doesn’t get a lot of mention in the news. But come Jan. 31, 2008, this regional Abuja-based institution, endorsed by member states in 1991 and established as a reality in 1996, could make headlines - if it decides to order the government of The Gambia to produce Manneh and explain why it is holding him.
In late November the court finished hearing evidence presented by the Media Foundation for West Africa MFWA which had filed suit against The Gambia government, demanding Manneh s immediate and unconditional release- h marks the first time an ECOWAS member state has been taken to the court over press freedom related violations and could set a precedent if the court rules in the MFWA’s favour.
There is a good chance the court will do so: the MFWA produced as a witness a Daily Observer journalist who saw Manneh being arrested. The Gambian government has twice ignored the court’s call to appear. Such a ruling would be immediately enforceable and bind either a Gambian court or police to produce Manneh.
Kwame Karikari, executive director of the MFWA, is optimistic about the result, despite what he believes are the inherent flaws in Gambia’s judicial system: “Jammeh’s judiciary is a kangaroo system,” he told me. “But we know there are one or two judges likely to enforce such a ruling. Whether Jammeh’s government will comply is something else.” Which is why the Commonwealth should pay close attention and not let The Gambia become any weaker a link in the chain than it already is.
If the ruling does go in favour of the MFWA but the Gambian government ignores it, the Commonwealth should step in and, at the very least, let The Gambia know it strongly backs the courts ruling. If the ruling doesn’t go in favour, then the Commonwealth could 5511 step in and apply more pressure to a regime that has for too long operated with impunity towards journalists.
Doing so would demonstrate a refreshing amount of purpose and will. And Ebrima Manneh who somewhere may be counting his 506th day in detention, would be grateful.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issues
Issue No 20/2008, 15 – 17 February 2008
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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