As British MPs frown on the continued detention without trial and disappearance without trace in the Gambia.
UK`s Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi have disclosed that UK government with other EU member states are exploring other options available to the EU under the Cotonou Agreement following the suspension of Political Dialogue by Gambia government with EU.“Following the withdrawal of The Gambia on 11 January from the Article 8 political dialogue with the EU, our High Commissioner in Banjul has met the Gambian Foreign Minister and has urged the Gambian government to re-engage with the EU” she added.
Baroness Warsi was responding to a question from Lord Eric Avebury Liberal Democrat Peer at the House of Lords onhalf of the Campaign for Human Rights in The Gambia UK.
She noted “We are also working within the EU to encourage The Gambia to return to dialogue. On 11 January, a spokesman for the EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Ashton, issued a statement saying that the EU remained committed to dialogue with The Gambia. With other EU member states, we are also exploring other options available to the EU under the Cotonou agreement”
Meanwhile at the British Parliament House of Commons more than 26 MPs have recently signed a Parliamentary Motion on the continued detention without trial and disappearance without trace of those in the Gambia who are perceived as opponents of the Gambian government as reported by Fabakary B. Ceesay in the Forayaa newspaper on 21 February 2013; and called on the UK Coalition government to urgently raise the cases of detentions without trial and disappearances in the Gambia whilst also looking for opportunities to call on the Gambian government to comply with international and regional human rights obligations.
The EDM tabled by Labour Party MP and Member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights, an influencial parliamentary group that promotes human rights oversea, also notes with alarm the continued unlawful arrests, harassment and detention of journalists and activists; draws particular attention to the case of journalist Ebrima Manneh about whom no further information has been released since 2011 when he was said to be alive by the Gambian Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Edward Gomez, five years after being detained, and to the disappearance of Captain Mahmoud Babadi Sarr who, according to his family, has been in detention since late 2009 but has not been tried;
The campaign to secure the Parliamentary opposition to the excalation of human rights abuse in Gambia has been assisted by Campaign for Human Rights in The Gambia UK.
The Early Day Motion further notes with anxiety that on 26 August 2012 nine prisoners, including one woman, were executed by firing squad, as reported in a statement by Gambia’s interior ministry; and asks the Government urgently to raise the cases of detentions without trial and disappearances in the Gambia whilst also looking for opportunities to call on the Gambian government to comply with international and regional human rights obligations.
See the link to the Parliamentary Motion http://www.parliament.uk/edm/
For More Information
Contact Campaign for Human Rights in The Gambia UK
www.gambiacampaign.org
Glasgow,Scotland UK