Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | AAM (African Association of Madison) |
Date: | Thu, 9 May 2002 05:50:37 -0500 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
BBC News | AFRICA | Ghana gets reconciliation panel
High Graphics | BBC SPORT>>
Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health |
Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | udioVideo |
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>World Conents: Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East |
South Asia | From Our Own Correspondent | Letter FromAmerica |
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC News Online: World: Africa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 7 May, 2002, 11:12 GMT 12:12 UK
Ghana gets reconciliation panel
Flight Lt Jerry Rawlings was hailed as a saviour in 1979
By the BBC's Kwaku Sakyi-Addo
Accra
President John Kufuor has inaugurated a National Reconciliation Commission
in Ghana, fashioned after similar panels in South Africa and Nigeria, to
look into past human rights violations. >
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The commission will be a forum for those who are aggrieved "
resident John Kuofor
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
The commission will grant immunity to those who testify before it.
It is mandated to investigate abuses committed during the five military
regimes which ruled Ghana for a total of 22 years after the first coup in 1966.
But most hearings are expected to highlight alleged atrocities committed
during the 1980s, when former President Jerry Rawlings was military head of
state.
Masterminds
According to the Ghana Bar Association, more than 200 people went missing
during those years; they are alleged to be victims of politically-motivated
killings
A number of businessmen are also likely to come forward to reclaim
properties confiscated by the then-ruling People's National Defence Council
(PNDC).
But the most interesting hearings are expected to be those involving the
murder in 1982 of four judges and a etired officer at an army shooting range.
A number of people connected to the PNDC were executed for the crime back
then. But relatives of some of the victims say the masterminds of the
killings are still alive and have prominent roles.>
At the inauguration ceremony, President Kufuor gave the assurance that the
hearngs would be "a forum for those who are aggrieved to seek consolation,
and for those whose losses cannot be replaced to receive compensation."
'Witch-hunts'
The nine-member commission is chaired by a retired Supreme Court Judge,
Justice KE Amua-Sekyi.
Members also include three women, as well as Islamic and Christian
clergymen, a traditional chief, and retired military General Emmanuel
Erskine, who was once the commander of UN troops in Lebanon. >
It will sit for one year, but a date is yet to be given for the first sitting.
In a statement issued on the occasion of the Ghanaian commission's
inauguration, Archbishop Desmond Tutu - who chaired a similar commission in
South Africa - said the hearings would "heal the wounds of victims and
restore their dignity".
Opposition NDC politicians whose party derives its roots from the PNDC
disagree.
They have criticised the setting up of the commission, saying that its
purpose is to carry out witch-hunts.
Perhaps the commission's first task might be to reconcile itself with the
opposition, and allay their fears.
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html
AAM Website: http://www.danenet.wicip.org/aam
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|