Below is the full text of their release…
“Beakanyang Kafo (BKK) is pleased to announce the hosting of its Reconciliation and Unity Festival in Brikama, West Coast Region. A landmark event scheduled for Saturday, 31st May and Sunday, 1st June 2025, at Kabafita Upper and Senior Secondary School in Brikama. The festival forms part of our ongoing Transitional Justice Project (BADINBUNG) funded by the African Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF), and supported by the African Union and the European Union respectively.
This unique festival is the culmination of months of meaningful work with victims, survivors and communities affected by human rights violations in The Gambia, especially victims of the state-sponsored witch-hunt operations of the past regime. It will gather citizens, activists, and leaders to promote healing, reconciliation, and the celebration of cultural heritage as a tool for justice and peace.
A Step Forward in Human Rights and Community Rebuilding
Over the years, Beakanyang Kafo has emerged as a leading grassroots human rights organization, working across rural and urban Gambia to amplify voices of the marginalized, and to push for dignity, accountability, and justice. Through the ATJLF-supported Badinbung Initiative, we have conducted truth-seeking “Bantaba” community dialogues, filmed survivor testimonies, restored broken relationships and revived traditional justice mechanisms rooted in local culture.
This upcoming Unity Festival represents a bold step toward national cohesion. It will bring together victims and perpetrators, traditional rulers, religious clerics, community elders, and youth activists from Sintet, Jambur, Bafuloto, Makumbaya, Barra and Essau, many of whom have shared neighborhoods while carrying the invisible scars of our country’s difficult past.
Celebrating Culture, Championing Justice!
In alignment with the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP), the festival will feature traditional performances, storytelling, reconciliation dialogues, cultural exhibitions, presentation on AUTJP and community pledges. It aims to rekindle the spirit of oneness, restore dignity, and promote a peaceful co-existence among all Gambians.
The event will be graced by sister CSOs and NGOs, government officials, representatives from the European Union and ATJLF, members of the diplomatic corps, and humanitarian and human rights institutions. This gathering is a powerful reflection of Beakanyang’s enduring belief that reconciliation begins at the grassroots and that justice must be inclusive, localised, and people-centred.
The Badinbung Cultural Unity Festival is open to the public. All are encouraged to attend and take part in this historic moment of reflection, cultural harmony, and hope for a better Gambia.”
