2000-04-25
GAMBIA: EIGHT SENEGALESE EXPELLED FROM GAMBIA FOR RIOTING.

BANJUL, April 25 (Reuters) - Gambia expelled eight Senegalese on Tuesday for
their part in rioting two weeks ago in which up to 14 people were killed, police
sources said.
They said those expelled were among 16 Senegalese nationals detained during
rioting on April 11 and 12 sparked by the alleged torture and murder of a school
student by fire fighters.
Nationals from Senegal, which surrounds Gambia on three sides, make up an
estimated 350,000 of Gambia's 1.3 million population.
Government statements about the riots have put the death toll at 12.
But police and family sources in Birkamaba, 250 km (156 miles) east of Banjul,
say two more students were killed there when police opened fire to stop crowds
of students from attacking government buildings.
Gambia's two main opposition parties called on April 20 for an independent
commission of inquiry into the deaths, suggesting the actual toll was higher
than the official total. A radio journalist was among those killed.
President Yahya Jammeh has promised that "no stone will be left unturned" in
trying to find out how they died. Government officials have said that protesters
started the shooting.
Police sources said 60 students from Armitage secondary school, 300 km east of
Banjul, had been released at the weekend after being detained for setting fire
to the premises of the post office and telecommunications company Gamtel.
The education ministry said in a statement that some schoolchildren had resumed
classes on Tuesday as part of a phased return. All classes would be back to
normal by May 4, it said.


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