President appoints Commission of Inquiry into Faraba Incident

Muhammed S Bah

President Adama Barrow has commissioned with immediate effect a Presidential Inquiry to independently look into the circumstances that led to the death of civilians in Faraba Bantang. The membership consists of the following:

1. Emmanuel Joof, a renown human rights Lawyer as the Chairperson
2. A representative of the Ministry of Justice
3. A representative of the Gambia Bar Association
4. A representative of the Gambia Armed Forces
5. A representative of the of the State Intelligence Services
6. A Representative of Civil society from the Association of Non-Governmental Organizations – TANGO

Taking into account the need for a speedy dispensation of justice and accountability, the Committee starts work with immediate effect and has a duration of one month to submit a comprehensive report to His Excellency, the President of the Republic.

The Inquiry has been mandated to:

1. Investigate the circumstances leading to the standoff between the villagers of Faraba Bantang and the Police Intervention Unit
2. Investigate the circumstances that led to the injuries and fatalities in Faraba Bantang and identify the those responsible for the deaths, including those who may have ordered the firings and those who fired the shots
3. Recommend measures to prevent a recurrence of the circumstances that led to the stand-off in Faraba Bantang
4. Recommend measures to prevent an occurrence of the incident in Faraba Bantang and other parts of the country

Additionally, the President has given approval for the appointment of a Coroner to investigate the cause of the deaths as per the Coroners Act, Cap 7.04, Vol. 2 Laws of The Gambia. The Coroner will work with a pathologist to establish the facts before the corpses are released to their families.

Press release, Office of the President

Meanwhile, the public relation officer of the Edward Francis small Teaching Hospital Momodou Jammeh has confirmed that, a postmortem was done on Wednesday on the corpses of three Faraba Victims.

Mr. Jammeh said the results are not yet out, but added “Hopefully it might be out on Friday or Monday”.

This postmortem is done to ascertain the cause of the death of the victims.