VICTIMS CENTRE TO SEEK U.N. RESOLUTION TO BAN APRC

By Omar Bah The Gambia Centre for Victims of Human Rights Violation has vowed to seek a UN Resolution to ban the former ruling APRC, in reaction to the re-election of former president Yahya Jammeh as its secretary general and “supreme leader”. “We unreservedly condemned the re-election of Jammeh as APRC leader and we are planning to engage legal experts to advise us on how to engage the UN Security Council to seek for a UN Resolution to ban the party and indict Yahya Jammeh as a war criminal. We want him to face justice for the crimes committed under his watch,” Sheriff Kijera told The Standard in an exclusive interview. Kijera was reacting to the former ruling party’s decision to re-elect former president Jammeh as their party supremo. “This is total disregard of our new found democracy and government must not entertain it,” he queried. Kijera said the news of Jammeh’s re-election was received with shock and disappointment by the victims, adding that it will aggravate tension in the country and make people hate the APRC party more. “Victims and all genuine Gambians are unhappy with the decision. Initially people were accepting the APRC back, based on the democratic climate but with the recent happenings, it is very disappointing. This demonstrates that the APRC is a terrorist party that has been violating human rights for 22 years,” he added. Speaking further, Kijera noted that the APRC cannot be regarded as a genuine political party if they refuse to disown Jammeh. “It is the height of dishonesty on the part of the APRC to re-elect Jammeh despite all these revelations coming from the Janneh Commission and with victims coming forward and giving testimonies with regard to their own ordeals perpetrated by the Jammeh regime under his watchful eye,” he said. APRC, he added, lacks the relevance to have any opportunity to contest elections in the country again, adding that the APRC members “are just fools…even if you blindfold Jammeh, he will not dare come to this country”. “Even before going ahead with our petition to the UN, we want to call on the Gambia Government to take decisive action as regards the conduct of the APRC in electing Jammeh as their leader. We want the government to ban the party. The US has recently issued a travel ban on Jammeh and his family. There is no reason why the Gambia Government cannot ban the APRC,” Kijera charged. The APRC, he added, should embrace the change by acknowledging the violations that happened under Jammeh, adding that the APRC should be honest as a political party. “What they have done is provocative to the victims and it could create tension.”]]>