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Momodou
Denmark
11634 Posts |
 Posted - 21 Sep 2009 : 12:52:37
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Over 50 Gambians in Libya’s detention camps
By Saikou Jammeh
Reports reaching the National Assembly have revealed that over 50 Gambians are being detained in Libya’s detention camps, two of whom have passed away whilst others are suffering terribly.
Most of these detainees are believed to be illegal migrants detained in camps, which according to Hon. Sedia Jatta are no ordinary camps. He said they are kept in a bush where most Libyans themselves do not know the location. He made these revelations during the adjournment debate of the Assembly on Monday.
Addressing fellow parliamentarians, Hon. Jatta said there is no intermediary between the detainees and the outside world. He said calls they made to him (Sedia Jatta) and others are stolen, and detainees are punished when caught. “Gambians are suffering terribly in those detention camps”, he said, adding that no treatment or food is provided for them when they go without food or when they fall sick. They are said to be more than 50 in number and their situation is getting aggravated on daily basis, said Sedia.
Expressing similar sentiments, the member for Sami Hon. Lamin Ceesay corroborated the news to the Assembly. Also in an interview with this reporter outside Assembly Chambers, he said the Gambian detainees who he communicated with reported to him that they are about 50 and over 20 of them share a cell, and sleep on the floor. “It is very cold in Libyaand I know because I have been there. Recently two of them died there. One was four months ago and the other, my brother-in-law, was just a month ago”, he said..
According to him, Ambassadors of other nationalities do go to the camps to identify their people, but The Gambia does not have an ambassador in Libya. He said there is a Liaison Officer whom he said cannot have access to where the detainees are kept. According to him, the Libyan authorities are now asking the detainees to buy tickets costing US $195 each, in order to fly them back home. “This is expensive especially for someone who has hustled up to Libya with nothing”, Hon Ceesay lamented.
However, Hon. Ceesay added that even if they (the detainees) buy their tickets, they would not have flights to come home because there is no direct flight from Libya to The Gambia. He also alleges that the Senegalese authorities are refusing those from Libya to land on their soil.
He reiterated that the Gambian authorities are aware of this as they have complained to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and they were told by the (recently sacked) Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Omar Touray that the Ministry of Interior will send a team to identify Gambian detainees. Since January nothing happened, he added.
He said some of the suspected illegal immigrants were caught at sea on their way to while others were caught on Libyan streets.
According to him there are over 2, 000 Gambians residing in Libya. He called for the government to establish an Embassy there not only for detainees, but also for Gambians legally resident in Libya.
This episode came on the heels of a question raised by Hon. Babanding K K Daffeh who asked the then Minister for Foreign Affairs as to how many Gambians are detained in Senegal, Libya Morocco. To this, Dr. Omar Touray said though there are no detainees in Senegal and Morocco but plans are afoot to send a team to Libya to identify Gambians among thousands of Africans detained there.
“How soon in the case of Libya, because Gambians are suffering there?” Hon. Sedia Jatta asked. The then minister had said on two occasions they planned to send a team there but this was not possible because of the African Union Summit and the 40th Anniversary of the Jamahiriya revolution.
Source: The Daily News
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