9/13/2023 0 Comments Marta goldstein deathDiba’s death and the other arrests have “brought fear and suspicion in the ranks of road union activists in Gambia.” “The ITF will also be asking for an urgent intervention from the ILO (International Labour Organization) on this matter,” the letter added.īayla Sow, the ITF’s Ecowas and Francophone representative, tells Equal Times that he wants a “high-level delegation” to Gambia by international trade unions. It called on the Gambian government to lift the ban, to drop “all legal proceedings against the leaders and members of the GNTCA,” and for “a national commission of inquiry … to determine the exact circumstances of the death of Sheriff Diba.” “The ITF and its affiliated unions worldwide strongly condemn the dissolution and prohibition of the GNTCA activities.” “We want justice for Sheriff and for his Gambian and Senegalese colleagues,’’ the petition reads, also referring to protests by Senegalese transport unions after Gambia raised the customs tax on lorries a hundredfold.įour days after Diba died, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in London sent a letter to Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, saying the union leader’s death was “reportedly as a result of abuse and torture received in the offices of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).” The leaders had been calling for a reduction in the price of fuel after a fall in wholesale prices, and were protesting a breakdown in negotiations with the government.īy early March more than 7,000 people had added their names to a petition on the LabourStart website. Sheriff Diba, of the Gambian National Transport Control Association (GNTCA), died at the notorious Mile 2 Prison in Banjul on 21 February, after he and other GNTCA leaders were detained by authorities.
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