Gambian President Denies Involvement In Journalist's Murder
BANJUL, Gambia (AFP)--Gambia's president Yahya Jammeh Monday denied in a
television interview his government was involved in the 2004 murder of prominent
journalist Deyda Hydara.
"(The) government has for long been accused by the international community and
so-called human rights organizations of the murder of Deyda Hydara, but we have
no stake in this issue," Jammeh told GRTS state television in an interview
broadcast live.
Hydara, the editor and co-founder of the independent newspaper The Point and
the Gambia correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP), was gunned down by
unidentified gunmen in his car on the outskirts of Banjul Dec. 16, 2004.
Over the years human rights organizations and media rights watchdogs have
repeatedly voiced suspicions that the Gambian security services were involved in
the killing and dismissed the official government investigation into the murder
as a smoke screen.
"So Deyda Hydara is dead but who killed him? Nobody knows. The West has long
accused me for his death but I know they are against me and as a result, I will
never depend on them for their so-called aid," Jammeh told state television.
The president insisted that the ongoing investigation into the slaying points
to Senegalese involvement.
According to Jammeh the Senegalese ex-husband of one of Hydara's female
colleagues, whom the government said was in love with the veteran journalist,
was in town on the day of the murder.
"The eyewitnesses of the killing of journalist Deyda Hydara are currently in
neighboring Senegal and that all attempts by the National Intelligence Agency to
talk to them in order to complete their investigations have proven futile," he
added.
Hydara's family couldn't be reached for comment Monday.
Gambia, a tiny West-African country which nestles inside Senegal, has been
criticized in recent years for its human rights record. In its 2009 year report
Amnesty International said opponents of Jammeh's government, journalist and
human rights defenders have been unlawfully detained and some times forced to
flee the country.
Jammeh, an outspoken military officer and former wrestler, has ruled the
former U.K. colony since seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1994.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-08-091215ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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