Accra, June 29, GNA - The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) on Friday said it would organize a vigil on Tuesday in honour of the 44 Ghanaians and six other Africans who were murdered in The Gambia two years ago.

"It is our hope that the people of Ghana can signal to the Africa Union (AU) the importance of pursuing agendas that promote human rights throughout the region," it said in a statement released in Accra. The statement said the vigil was to send a message to President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia and to the rest of the AU leaders that Ghanaians and the international community could not look on quietly while human rights violations were happening.

The statement called on President Jammeh to take responsibility for this injustice and communicate his commitment to find the perpetrators of this heinous crime to book.

"We also hope that all AU delegates will adopt this issue and set a precedent that will serve to prevent future atrocities." It said the memory of the 44 Ghanaians serves as a lasting reminder of the persisting human rights issues still facing Africans. It said although many countries had pledged to enforce human rights, extra judicial killings in The Gambia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and other African countries continued to deprive individuals of their most basic human rights, the right to life.

The statement also said the recent incidents in Darfur had received particular international attention and were regarded as the hallmark of these forms of infractions. 29 June 07