The corpses of Ebrima Colley, Demba Colley and Alhagie Colley were all at Edward Friancis Small Teaching Hospital for autopsy.
Almameh Gibba, the lawmaker of the area, said: “This is really devastating and shocking. We the people of Foni are left insecure to the stage that the Senegalese forces will brutalise and kill the people of Foni like hens and animals and they scot-free.
“The saddest thing is that the government has never even issued a press release to condemn the drone shelling’s that are occurring at the border. Again, the International Geneva Convention has stated that no one should shoot unarmed civilians. If they think they are attacked in their territory, let them arrest the individuals. Besides, we are now in an era of technology where a drone can identify what the individual has in position. This is not the first time, not the second time that the Senegalese Forces are shooting at people,” Hon. Gibba told The Point.
Hon. Gibba claimed that one Mamudou Bojang was also reportedly shot in Gifanga end around the border of Cassamance three days back.
“As a responsive government, your citizens are being slaughtered like hens and chickens and you don’t even have the audacity to condemn them or issue a press release to show dissatisfaction with what is happening. Are we not Gambians and tax payers? Do we not deserve protection like any other citizens who are protected?
“Former President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara has been here for 30 years, but nobody heard this mess that’s happening today and likewise former President Yahya Jammeh who was here for 22 years.
“Is it a crime for the citizens of Foni to live around the border? Is it a crime for an old person or the youths to live on the border? Is it a crime to move within the borders of Cassamance and Senegal? If you go to the Farafenni end, people are moving freely with goods and services and in Foni here you dare not to enter, why?
“We have petitioned the government and we stand by that. We are now giving them a timeline for them to act or else we will decide our fate. We are going to monitor the incident. As I am speaking to you, the Defense Minister is here. I have been communicating with him since yesterday night and he has put a lot of effort into this incident. We will follow the due process of the law. We will make sure that we have correct documents and whatever happens tomorrow; we will raise those documents and say here - this is the cause of their deaths,” he stated.
The National Assembly Members of the entire five districts of Foni, he said, ‘wholeheartedly condemn the incident and the killings that is currently going on within the borders’.
“The Senegalese Forces that are stationed in the Cassamance, are the ones using drones to fire randomly on anybody crisscrossing within the borders. Now, the Senegalese helicopter is moving within the borderline and it’s even moving inside the country and goes back to Senegal. Is this normal? Are we serious as a state? If you go to Foni, you will see the helicopter moving in Senegal and coming to the Gambian soil. Did the Gambia security ever fire at the helicopter or more so an unarmed civilian? So, why are they shooting our unarmed civilians?
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