Living Mirror Shines Light on President Jammeh's Evil Reign

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By Abel Ugba

The cold-blooded murder of Mr Deyda Hydara on December 16, 2004 has, more than any other incident, highlighted the gross violation of media and human rights in The Gambia. The country's paranoid and deluded ruler, Mr Yahya Jammeh, has never hidden his disdain of journalists, especially ones like Mr Hydara who frown at his mismanagement of national resources and autocratic disposition. Soon after he shot his way onto the national stage following the 1994 military coup, Mr Jammeh branded journalists the ‘illegitimate sons of Africa'. Even after he reincarnated as a civilian president, his tirades and brutality against journalists have been unrelenting. However, much of his antics remained hidden from the international community until the death of Mr Hydara, who was shot in the night by unidentified gunmen as he drove from his office to his house.

A Living Mirror: The Life of Deyda Hydara, a 216-page book, describes the private and professional life of the murdered journalist. Authored by Aloa Ahmed Alota and Demba Ali Jawo, two journalists who knew and worked with Mr Hydara, the series of event described in the book rely mostly on eye-witness accounts, a review of Hydara's writings and interviews with his family members, friends and professional colleagues. It provides unique insights into his personal and professional developments, the type that can be provided only by those who knew him intimately.

The book portrays Mr Hydara as a highly-driven, uncompromising goal getter who would not be deterred even by death threats. This disposition is most vividly portrayed in an article in The Point, a newspaper he co-founded and edited till his gruesome murder, where he wrote: "...Government and supporters must also know that some of us have...offered our lives in our social responsibility role. Maybe we are crazy but some of us would be proud to be gunned down or simply be killed for doing just that." On another occasion, he pointedly predicted his assassination in a conversation with his wife: "He put his left arm over his head and poked his ribs with his right middle finger. ‘They will shoot me here'. He then touched his lower abdomen and his left temple, and repeated what he had just said." (Page 99).

Mr Hydara's eerie prediction did not mean that he craved martyrdom. He had so much to live for. Top of the list were a happy home and an upwardly mobile career. At a time when the majority of his colleagues shunned entrepreneurship and opted for the security of employment with state-run media, he embarked on the publication of The Point. By the time of his death the newspaper had become one of the most popular and successful independent press in The Gambia. Anyone who was as intimately acquainted with the sadism and psychopathic tendencies of the Jammeh's government as Hydara was would have come to the same prediction as he did. The evidence, mostly in the form of brutal physical assaults on journalists and political opponents, had been accumulating since the petite Jammeh came to power in 1994.

One of the limitations of this book is that very little direct reference is made to the consistent violation of human and media rights that preceded the murder of Mr Hydara, and made the tragedy predictable. For this reason, those who read this book should also get a copy of The Gambia: Violations of Press Freedom by the Government of Yahya Jammeh 1994 - 2006, co-published by the Media Foundation of West Africa. The litany of media-directed abuses and persecutions documented in this slim but graphically-illustrated 36-page volume shows that the silencing of Mr Hydara's voice or, for that matter, any critical voice, was only a matter of time. It won't come as a surprise if more journalists are murdered in The Gambia now or in the near future because Mr Jammeh's autocratic and megalomaniac reign has created the right environment. While the despot struts the world stage and soaks in the ignominy that comes with his fraternity with like-minded dictators, the vast majority of the inhabitants of The Gambia live in fear and penury. More journalists are fleeing The Gambia than any country in the West Africa region. Those who stay are repeatedly thrown into detention without trial while foreign journalists are deported at will.

Two features of this book that are especially commendable are the detailed representation of the specific media freedom struggles that Mr Hydara devoted much of his activism to and the reproduction of many articles written by the slain journalist. These articles give the reader a good insight into the intelligent, dogged and resolute journalist that Mr Hydara was. They make clear the irreplaceable loss that his untimely death has meant for the world of journalism. Students of media history and press freedom activists will find these details useful. Most importantly, they will be lasting testimony to the brutality and ignorance of Mr Yahya Jammeh long after he, his despotic reign and supporters have been swept into oblivion.