Martin Kyere – Lone survivor
A survivor of the massacre of about 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia, Martin Kyere has expressed doubts that the remains of the eight Ghanaians that were reburied at the Osu Cemetery in 2009 could not be Ghanaians.
He claims that those reburied at the Osu Cemetery in Accra are not the actual remains of the Ghanaians who were killed and buried in a mass grave in the Gambia in 2005.
Martin Kyere, a survivor and spokesperson for the victims’ families of the Gambian massacre explained his position in
the fact that no DNA test was conducted on the remains that were exhumed from a
mass grave in the Gambia in 2009, nearly four years after the mass burial in the Gambia, and subsequently reburied
at the Osu Cemetery.
He also said, there was a heavy stench around the coffins containing the eight bodies when they were brought to the funeral grounds at the forecourt of the State House, adding that the coffins were not opened.
Kyere’s concerns are contained in an upcoming documentary film titled “The Massacre of Ghanaians in The Gambia: Justice in Limbo?” yet to be premiered in Accra on Thursday, February 27, 2020.
The documentary by the Jammeh2Justice Ghana Campaign, a Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) examines the true events that occurred before, during and after the murder of the 44 Ghanaians and other West African migrants and was put together following months of field investigations and research undertaken in five West African countries of Senegal, Gambia, Togo, Nigeria and five regions in Ghana.
It is recalled that in July 2005 about 56 West African migrants including about 44 Ghanaians who were
using an unapproved route through the Gambia to seek greener pastures in Europe were reportedly killed in The Gambia.
The eight Ghanaians were summarily killed by the Junglers, a paramilitary unit within the Gambian military that takes orders directly from President Yahya Jammeh on the first night, July 23, 2005, when they arrived in The Gambia and their bodies were dumped by the road in front of Brufut Forest, near Ghanatown, a town predominantly inhabited by Ghanaians living in the Gambia.
The remaining migrants were shot over several days in Cassamance in Senegalese territory but Martin managed to escaped.
