By Mustapha Kamara Jnr
A Sierra Leonean human rights advocate who was detained and forcefully deported from The Gambian is calling on the Sierra Leone government and the international community to help him secure justice.
Peeble Romer lived in Gambia for over ten years and led the advocacy group seeking the Abolition of war in West Africa (ABOWA), an organization he set up as a refugee living in The Gambia. Romer said it was dedicated to the prevention of war in Africa.
He told Politico that his arrest and deportation came as a result of his advocacy for the prevention of war in the Gambia. He said he`d wanted to prevent a recurrence of the bloody civil war that forced him to flee Sierra Leone.
“Surprisingly, I was forcefully arrested, detained on 24th December 2014 and was deported on 30th of the same month upon the command of vice president of The Gambia, Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, few days after I sent her a letter requesting a meeting which intends to inform her about an advocacy campaign which was intended to prevent war in the Gambia,” Romer said.
He explained that he was trying to implement a national advocacy because he had sensed a potential outbreak of war in The Gambia, citing the oppressive governance structures there. He said President Yayah Jammeh was behaving like a tyrant and was violating the fundamental human rights of his citizens.
Romer said the governance structure in Gambia was sad, adding that the situation is similar to that of Sierra Leone before the war in 1991. The right activist explained that the civil war broke up in Sierra Leone because no measures were in place to appease the minds of disgruntled youths who were been brainwashed and incited to fight, by rebel leaders.
“…I was advocating for The Gambia government to take action to shut the door at war, to debar belligerent people from going into action,” he said.
Interestingly, the same week when Romer was detained a military coup was staged against Jammeh`s regime, he said.
Peeble Romer is demanding the sum of Le50 million as compensation from the Gambian government for all his properties that he had acquired while staying in the Gambia, which he was not allowed to bring back home with him.
(C) Politico 26/06/15
