Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations, has urged the Inspector General of Police, to deny former ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction permit meant to stage a protest for the return of ex-President Yahya Jammeh to the Gambia, planned for January 16th, 2020.
In its letter to the Inspector General of Police, and made available to PANA here on Thursday and signed by Chairman Sheriff Kijera, the center said it has come to the notice that the APRC Party / militants are in the process of applying for a permit to stage a protest.
“We write to express our concerns and the concerns of victims that the application made by the APRC for a permit to stage protest for the return of Yahya Jammeh to the Gambia be put on hold for several reasons, key among them is the interference of the on-going TRRC testimonies and the security of the Country.
“Therefore, we object to this application for the time being, as it is considered as a provocative move against victims of Yahya Jammeh and his regime as well as the peace and tranquility of the country,” the statement said.
The centre said its position remains that Jammeh is a fugitive and that any activity that tends to be in denial of that fact or aimed at provoking victims of his regime must not be entertained.
“It is not in the interest of peace and stability in the Gambia to allow a political party that had enabled and in blatant denial of serious human rights violations committed against Gambians and non-Gambians to stage a protest for the return of the very person who had masterminded and committed these violations as evident from the testimonies emerging from the country truth commission.
The purpose of the current transitional justice efforts in the Gambia is to deal with repressive legacies of the APRC regime in order to ensure that it never again happen in the Gambia, thus, the application for permission to protest for the return of Yahya Jammeh is a direct sabotage to the ongoing transitional processes,” the centre said.
The centre added: “In the light of the above, we urge your office to consider our position and that of the victims and the on-going truth commission, to take adequate measures to deal with disparaging remarks and threats coming from the APRC leadership against witnesses.”