By Tabora Bojang
Abdou Karim Jammeh a survivor of the April 2000 killing of student protesters by security forces under former dictator Jammeh has voiced his disappointment with President Adama Barrow for “neglecting” Jammeh victims and recycling people who oiled the engine of the tyranny.
About 14 students were shot dead with the between April 10 and 11 with the Jammeh later granting amnesty to the security officials who pulled the trigger. Twenty five years on survivors are still searching for justice and compensation.
Abdou Karim who suffered from a gunshot wound told The Standard yesterday that survivors and families of victims who lost their lives continue to live with “pain and deprivation.”
“Tragically, those who helped Jammeh’s tyranny and vehemently rejected Barrow in 2016, and even went to the National Assembly to extend the dictator’s reign, are the ones enjoying the benefits of the new era while those who were shot including myself are confined wheelchairs and crutches feeling abandoned. Following the change of government we were very much hopeful as they were calling us heroes and invited us to many gatherings to speak out with the hope that everything is going to be alright and justice would be served soonest but eight years on, the Barrow government has betrayed and turned a blind eye on us,” Abdou Karim lamented.
He further alleged that government has also reneged on its pledge to make April 10 and 11 a day of national mourning and a public holiday in schools and rebrand Westfield Monument into a memorial ground of the victims and survivors,
“Mr President, victims’ families need closure and justice. Until now some families do not know the graves of their loved ones. Can’t you have sympathy for them?”, Abdou Karim addressed President Barrow.
