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| Women protesting against dictator Yaya Jammeh |
Two events took place in the midst of protest demonstrations
in Banjul and environs against the regime of Yaya Jammeh which led me to
conclude that the international community, represented by the United States,
the European Union, ECOWAS and the United Nations, is missing the point
altogether.
The first is the convening of the Inter-Party Committee 23rd
April meeting of political parties at the offices of the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) as part of the electoral process in preparation for the
scheduled December 2016. The meeting was
observed by the US and EU Ambassadors and the UN System Coordinator in the
Gambia.
The second event is this week’s just concluded joint mission
of ECOWAS, AU and UN “aimed at developing an understanding” among political
parties and to assess standard of compliance for the upcoming elections. It must be noted that the mission also delved
into the recent protest demonstrations which led to the deaths of still
undetermined number, including of a young political activist and an executive
member of Gambia’s biggest opposition party whose leader is among several
others arrested, charged and detained.
The mission is calling for an independent and transparent investigation.
The political turmoil the country is currently undergoing,
like most political unrest, has been long time in the making and it has had
its origin in the regime’s success in institutionalizing sexual predatory
practices which has proven to be a potent weapon in Yaya Jammeh’s arsenal.
In Yaya Jammeh’s Gambia, rape and sexual molestation
of both men and women, have become standard, state-approved modus operandi employed
by Jammeh himself and all his security agents.
These heinous forms of human rights and sexual abuses,
coupled with an equally institutionalized and systemic corruption in high
places, have fractured the social fabric of a small but once cohesive society ,
bring down to its knees a once well-managed economy under Sir Dawda Jawara’s
government .
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| Women protesters against Jammeh vile and corrupt regime |
Known serial rapists have been employed by the regime for
the sole purpose of preying on victims, usually political opponents to further
entrench a regime that has been proven – time and time again – to be a violent
and reprehensible toward those perceived to be a threat to the regime’s grip on
power.
These serial rapists are embedded within the National
Intelligence Agency (NIA) where detainees are kept and routinely raped before
they are physically tortured. These monsters are provided with alcohol and drugs by Interior Minister Ousman Sonko and NIA Director General, Yankuba Badjie, before they (they rapists) are unleashed, like wild dogs, on their helpless preys. The latest
victims of these rapists have been on display recently at the High Court to
face incitement, riot and conspiracy charges in connection with recent protest
demonstrations.
Contrary to claims by Jammeh that he has the interest of
women at heart; Gambian women have been Jammeh’s primary victims of his 22-year
despotic rule. Gambian women have been
raped, molested, sexually harassed and forced to spend hours in Jammeh’s farms
as indentured laborers. Jammeh is quick
to cite the number of women in his cabinet and in the parliament. What he doesn’t say is that most, not all,
have been victims of rape, molestation or harassment in one form or another. And those serving within territorial Gambia
or abroad have been effectively blackmailed into silence. They are themselves victims of a system of
government that uses rape as a weapon of repression.
Women are out in greater numbers than men, partly because of
their suffering at the hands of one of Africa’s most vile and vicious sexist
dictators. Women are out in numbers
because they want to rid the Gambia of one of the most brutal, corrupt and
incompetent regime. Women are out
because they want Jammeh to step down now and, therefore, are in no mood to go
to the polls with someone who uses rape as an instrument of suppression.
The international community is, therefore, missing the
point. Elections are the last things on
the minds of Gambians at this point. The
problem is Jammeh. He must go. He must leave office and a transition government
put in place to prepare the ground for fresh, free and fair elections. #JammehMustGo
