PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Senegal: Gambia reforms its intelligence agency
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Gambian President Adama Barrow has taken measures to reform the notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and renamed it as State Intelligence Services (SIS).
A statement from the presidency on Wednesday, obtained by PANA in Dakar, Senegal, said the department shall only deal with intelligence gathering and analysing in order to protect The Gambia from external and internal threats.
It said the SIS "shall no more arrest, detain, or undertake any activities that are unconstitutional, especially with regard to human civil rights in line with the government’s new dispensation for the new Gambia.''
Under former president Yahya Jammeh's regime the NIA became unpopular for carrying out arbitrary arrests and detention, torture of innocent people along with other numerous forms of human rights violations.
Meanwhile, the new government said it had noticed many vehicles driving around without number plates and many state-owned vehicles were in unauthorised hands. Also, vehicles moved in and out of the country without authorisation.
''With effect from 2 February 2017, vehicles without number plates shall no longer be allowed to ply the public roads without adequate proof of permission such as new vehicles in transit or such.
''All persons in possession of government vehicles and other such assets without authority are requested to return the vehicles to their proper offices and assignee or to the government vehicle controller or the nearest police station.
''All government vehicle control officials are requested to take stock and confirm to their respective mandated authorities that they account for all vehicles under their control, and that they are assigned to duly mandated officers,'' the statement emphasized.
-0- PANA MLJ/AR 1Feb2017
A statement from the presidency on Wednesday, obtained by PANA in Dakar, Senegal, said the department shall only deal with intelligence gathering and analysing in order to protect The Gambia from external and internal threats.
It said the SIS "shall no more arrest, detain, or undertake any activities that are unconstitutional, especially with regard to human civil rights in line with the government’s new dispensation for the new Gambia.''
Under former president Yahya Jammeh's regime the NIA became unpopular for carrying out arbitrary arrests and detention, torture of innocent people along with other numerous forms of human rights violations.
Meanwhile, the new government said it had noticed many vehicles driving around without number plates and many state-owned vehicles were in unauthorised hands. Also, vehicles moved in and out of the country without authorisation.
''With effect from 2 February 2017, vehicles without number plates shall no longer be allowed to ply the public roads without adequate proof of permission such as new vehicles in transit or such.
''All persons in possession of government vehicles and other such assets without authority are requested to return the vehicles to their proper offices and assignee or to the government vehicle controller or the nearest police station.
''All government vehicle control officials are requested to take stock and confirm to their respective mandated authorities that they account for all vehicles under their control, and that they are assigned to duly mandated officers,'' the statement emphasized.
-0- PANA MLJ/AR 1Feb2017
