Panafrican News Agency

Gambia government hands over remains of soldiers killed in 2014

Banjul, Gambia(PANA) - The Gambia government on Wednesday handed over the remains of Gambian soldiers killed in an attack on the State House on 30 December 2014 to their families at the Ministry of Justice in Banjul.

In April 2018, authorities exhumed the bodies of four foreign-based Gambian dissidents who were killed while trying to topple the former regime of Yahya Jammeh.

The decomposing bodies of Lamin Sanneh, Jaja Nyass, Njaga Jagne and Dawda Bojang were dug out of a secret burial place in Tintiba Forest, a swampy area near the Dumbuto Firing Range, north-west of Bwiam, about 50km outside Banjul.

Speaking at the handover Gambian Justice minister Abubacarr Tambedou, said the process took place in the context of transitional justice and served as a demonstration of government to uphold human dignity and principles of basic human decency to individuals irrespective of their circumstances.

-0- PANA MSS/AR 9Jan2019