According to GRTS Radio, the joint United Nations-ECOWAS Fact-finding Team set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Ghanaian nationals in 2005, has absolved the government of The Gambia of any direct or indirect complicity in the deaths.
In a report issued at the end of its fact-finding mission, the UN-ECOWAS Panel says it has found no evidence that links the government of The Gambia either directly or indirectly to the death of the eight West African nationals whose bodies were discovered in the Tanji Forest around Ghana Town in 2005.
News despatched from the Foreign Affairs Department says the Panel also finds that the various reports in both the print and electronic media that link the Government of The Gambia to the deaths, lack credibility as they are all patently biased.
According to the evidence found by the Team, the 8 dead persons were victims of an illegal migration scam that was conceived and perpetrated by criminals operating in the West African sub-region.
At a meeting convened under the aegis of the UN and ECOWAS in Abuja , Nigeria on 11th May 2009 , Gambian and Ghanaian Ministers reviewed the report and jointly endorsed the findings that absolve the government of The Gambia of having any hand in the death of the 8 men. They have agreed to work on the way forward.