The Ghanaian sole survivor of the 2005 migrants killing in The Gambia is testifying today at the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC).

Martin Kyere, 41, vowed to speak the truth as he took the oath. He will testify about the brutal killing of more than 50 West African migrants including about 44 Ghanaians by security forces under the command of former president Yahya Jammeh.  

The hearing is expected to shed further light on the massacre and the said cover-up. Previous official attempts to investigate the killing were flawed.

Ghana attempted to investigate the killings in 2005 and 2006, but was blocked by the then-Jammeh government.

In 2008, the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) formed a joint investigative team, which produced a report in April 2009 that was said to have concluded that the Gambian government was not “directly or indirectly complicit” in the deaths and enforced disappearances.

It blamed “rogue” elements in Gambia’s security services “acting on their own” for the massacre.

The UN/ECOWAS report has never been made public despite repeated requests by the victims and by five UN human rights experts.