Accra, Ghana - The Ghana chapter of human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged West African leaders to condemn Gambian President Yahaya Jammeh for widespread human rights violations and persistent crackdown on political freedoms. Mr Lawrence Amesu, Director of Amnesty International (AI), Ghana, said freedom had remained 'an illusion' for most Gambians, particularly journalists and human rights activists, who lived in fear of arbitrary arrest, torture, unfair trials, disappearance and extra-judicial executions.

He was speaking in Accra on Friday at a press conference to mark “The Gambia Day of Action”, which marked the 17th anniversary of the coup that brought President Jammeh to power.

Mr Amesu said the focus of this year’s commemoration was to raise the Gambian human rights concerns with influential international and regional forums as well as provide Gambians in the Diaspora an opportunity to form a strong international network of activists that could respond to human rights infractions in Gambia.

He urged African regional bodies to prioritise Gambia’s deplorable human right records and encourage international organisations, especially the United Nations, to ensure the protection of human rights in the West African state.

Ms Jane McCosher, a Research Advocate of the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), Ghana, charged leaders in the sub-region who had interest and influence in the matter to intensify efforts to right the wrongs in Gambia.

She urged the Gambian government to meet its own obligations to the people under national and international law.

“Currently, the government of the Gambia is failing its citizens by not respecting rights and freedoms guaranteed to them in the 1997 Gambian Constitution, as well as several international conventions to which the Gambia is a party,” she said.

Ms McCosher asked the government of the Gambia to cease immediately practices that violated the human rights of its people and address past violations of its citizens in a manner that was consistent with domestic and international law.

Pana 23/07/2011