By: Nyima Sillah
A Gambian man was last week laid to rest in Qatar after failed efforts to repatriate his body back home for burial.
The Gambian community in Qatar was reportedly moving heaven and earth to bring back home the late man’s body but their frantic efforts were frustrated by the lack of financial resources.
The deceased was said to be an undocumented migrant in Qatar and was reportedly arrested by the Qatari police, who placed him under custody for a few days.
According to reliable sources, he was detained by the police as he awaited deportation.
“He, however, passed away a day before he was returned home. He died of heart failure after a ticket was already bought for him to return,” a source informed this medium.
His burial in Qatar has brought the Gambian embassy in Doha under severe criticism from Gambian migrants there as compatriots in the Arab nation were infuriated and disappointed by the embassy’s inability to fly the body back home.
The demise of the Gambian has also brought to the fore issues of alleged violations of the rights of Gambian migrants living and working in Qatar.
Some of the migrants accused the embassy of negligence and apathy, regarding their welfare.
A source said this was the third time that a Gambian died in Qatar without the embassy making any effort to repatriate their bodies.
“You have a fistful of Gambians in Qatar. The embassy could have engaged the authorities to repatriate the corpse,” the source added.
When contacted, the First Secretary at the Gambia’s embassy in Qatar Alieu Manjang told this medium that the family of the deceased Gambian has agreed to his burial in Qatar. He clarified that it’s not the responsibility of the embassy to repatriate dead bodies even though they can facilitate the repatriationprocess. Mr. Manjang said the employers or families are responsible for the repatriation of the bodies oftheir employees and relatives.
The first secretary said they are sometimes rendered helpless when it comes to the treatment of the Gambian migrants in Qatar because of their immigration status.
“The embassy is not a law enforcement agency. The country has its laws. The embassy doesn’t have the mechanism to know Gambians, who entered the country. It’s only when they report to us that we can identify the type of visas they traveled on to Qatar but 80% of Gambians are undocumented,” he added.