Henry Mukasa
14 November 2009
Kampala — HUMAN Rights activists from Commonwealth have petitioned President Yoweri Museveni to rein in his Gambian colleague, Yahya Jammeh, for threatening to kill human rights defenders.
In an open letter to Museveni, the out-going Commonwealth chairman, Maja Daruwala, said Jammeh's statements flout the jealously guarded Commonwealth principles.
"In view of the universal condemnation and concern at the statements of the President of Gambia, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) strongly urges you to seek a clear repudiation of his statement and a strong re-affirmation of his commitment to the values of the Commonwealth ," Daruwala wrote.
" In the absence of this, we recommend that no invitation be extended to the President of Gambia to attend the upcoming CHOGM in Trinidad," Daruwala added.
Museveni will on November 29 hand over the chairmanship of the Commonwealth to the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Museveni became chairman of the grouping of former British colonies in November 2007, when Uganda hosted the summit.
In 1971, while meeting in Singapore, the Commonwealth adopted guiding principles for member states which emphasise human rights.
Zimbabwe was suspended for flouting the principles after botched elections and subsequent violence.
Jammeh, in a television address recently, reportedly said: "If you think that you can collaborate with so-called human rights defenders, and get away with it, you must be living in a dream world. I will kill you, and nothing will come out of it".
Ironically, the headquarters of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is in the Gambian capital, Banjul.
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