Gambia promises investigations into rape allegations against senior foreign ministry official
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) – The Gambian government on Monday promised to investigate sexual assault allegations levelled against a senior official of the foreign ministry.
In a press statement, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubacarr M. Tambadou, said the government's attention has been drawn to allegations of sexual assault made by a number of women, including rape, committed against them by Mr Melville Robertson Roberts, a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Attorney General takes seriously these allegations and hereby assures the complainants and the general public that the allegations will be treated with the seriousness they deserve and will be referred to The Gambia Police Force for immediate and urgent criminal investigations,” the Attorney-General said.
The release urged the complainants to contact The Gambia Police Force or the Ministry of Justice while urging them to extend full cooperation to the police in the conduct of the investigations.
The Attorney-General said that the initiation of criminal investigation into these allegations does not in any way suggest the guilt of Mr Roberts who shall continue to benefit from the presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
This development comes in the wake of rights groups accusing former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh of rape and sexual assault against women while in power recently.
According to Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International, Jammeh’s presidential aides used to regularly pressure women to visit or work for Jammeh, who then sexually abused many of them.
“Yahya Jammeh treated Gambian women like his personal property,” said Reed Brody, counsel at Human Rights Watch, who led the investigation.
“Rape and sexual assault are crimes, and Jammeh is not above the law.”
Jammeh is currently in Equatorial Guinea, where he is in exile after losing the 2016 presidential election to Adama Barrow.
A Gambian Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) is documenting human rights violations committed during Jammeh’s 22 years in power, including sexual violence allegations.
“The TRRC and the Gambian government should ensure that allegations of rape and sexual violence by Jammeh and other former top officials are fully investigated and prosecuted,” the rights group urged.
Human Rights Watch and TRIAL interviewed three women who have accused Jammeh of rape and sexual assault, and a fourth woman who said that Jammeh’s aides confined her in an apparent set-up for sexual abuse.
Last Friday during a press conference held in Banjul, Fatou Jallow, known as Toufah, who alleged that Jammeh raped her in 2015, narrated her ordeal as a result of which she had to flee into exile in Canada.
-0- PANA MLJ/MA 2July2019
