Gambia’s dictator Yahya Jammeh is being accused of abusing his office for ordering the detention of female immigration officers who appear to have bleached their skin.
The female officers have been “confined to barracks” and denied access to their families for over a month. According to sources close to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), President Jammeh has instructed security chiefs not to release the officers until their natural skin colour returns.
According to the source, a “significant number” of female officers were pulled aside during a parade and taken to the Tanji Immigration Training School following a directive issued by Jammeh abolishing skin bleaching in his government. The officers have reportedly spent their time in detention cleaning the training school and being exposed to other “degrading punishments”.
“Yahya Jammeh has indeed abused his office. He is violating the rights and liberties of Gambians with impunity. If a given female officer decides to bleach her skin, that’s her business. That’s none of Yahya Jammeh’s business.
“Female serving members of our Force have been rounded up and detained at the Tanji Immigration Training School. The world should know that Gambian women are being violated by this mad dictator,” said the source, who wishes to remain anonymous.
“What Jammeh is doing tantamount to an assault against our women folks. He is kidnapping our female officers in the name of trying to eradicate skin bleaching. Women rights groups should come to the aid of these poor serving female officers of our Force. Yahya Jammeh is imprisoning them without any court order. This is absurd! Jammeh needs to be stopped,” the source added.
A senior Immigration officer, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the confinements to barracks followed a command received from President Jammeh to detain female officers who are in the business of bleaching their skin.
“We received a memo from the Office of the President instructing us to dismiss female officers who are in the habit of bleaching their skin. The memo also talks about disciplinary action to be taken against skin bleachers up to termination of one’s employment with the Force.
“In order to punish them, the President asked us to hold the female officers hostage at the Tanji Immigration Training School. The officers wouldn’t be released until the colour of their skin turn black. This is an order from the President,” said the officer.
