THE GAMBIA MUST LISTEN TO REASON (MAY 16, 2009)

GHANAIANS have expressed joy at the decision of the UN and the ECOWAS Commission that the government of The Gambia pay compensation to Ghana for the killing and disappearance of Ghanaians in that country.
The International Investigative Panel of the UN and the ECOWAS Commission that looked into the killing and the disappearance of the 40 Ghanaians in July 2005 said the compensation should be looked at by the governments of Ghana and The Gambia.
Although the decision of the panel will not restore the lives of the 40 Ghanaians, at least it is soothing that their families are inching to justice in this protracted diplomatic row.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni, who returned to Accra on Thursday with the good news, said the panel concluded that the government of The Gambia was responsible for the protection of the human rights of all persons on its territory and it was, therefore, liable for the incident, regardless of whether those violations were committed “de jure or de facto”.
The Daily Graphic thinks that there are still some grey areas that must be resolved in this saga to pave the way for the families of the deceased to secure justice in accordance with international law.
Even though the panel has implicated The Gambia in the killing of the 40 Ghanaians, it did not set out clear parameters by which compensation is to be paid to the families of the victims.
However, the panel recommended that both governments agree to the establishment of a mechanism to assist in determining the total amount of compensation or any appropriate form of redress, identify individuals who should receive compensation and the amount that should be paid to each based on agreed criteria.
Our prayer, however, is that this arrangement towards the payment of compensation will not be bogged down by unnecessary bureaucracy and diplomatic bottlenecks, such that relatives of the victims will have to wait for many more years to be duly compensated.
It is said that for public opinion to be effective, it must be sustained, and for this reason we commend all civil society groups, particularly the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), for mounting pressure on the previous government and the Mills administration to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.
We hope that The Gambia, which has frustrated Ghana in its quest to resolve the misunderstanding that arose from the killings, will now see good reason and co-operate with the international community for the peaceful resolution of the problem.
We also urge the government not to relent in its commitment to the resolution of the matter, consistent with international law, so that the cries of the relatives of the deceased for justice will not be in vain.
The DAILY GRAPHIC uses the opportunity to sound a note of caution to all to use The Gambian episode as a wake-up call and desist from employing unlawful means to seek greener pastures elsewhere.
We, however, express delight at the government’s intention so far in The Gambia saga and express the hope that it will do everything in its power to work towards the final resolution of the mater.