the decrees do not prohibit the enjoyment of freedoms; they are merely there to secure peace and stability,
and only those who want to disrupt the peace will be arrested and detained.
14. The submission further claims that since the take-over, not a single individual has been deliberately
killed; and that during the counter - coup of 11th November 1994, soldiers of both sides lost their lives due
mainly to the fact that the rebels were fighting back with soldiers loyal to the government.
15. The government also claims that Mr Koro Ceesay and Mr Sadibu Hydara alleged to have been killed by
the government died from an accident and natural causes, respectively. Post-mortem reports on the two
deaths are attached.
16. The government further pointed out that the communication does not fulfil some of the conditions laid
down in Article 56 of the Charter. Specifically, that the communications fails to meet the conditions set
down in sub-article 4 and Article 56(5), which state that communications:
Article 56(4)...are not based exclusively on news disseminated through the mass media;
Article 56(5)...are sent after exhausting local remedies, if any unless it is obvious that this procedure is
unduly prolonged.
Complaint
17. The Complainant alleges violation of the following Articles of the Charter: Articles 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7(1)(d),
7(2), 9(1), 9(2), 10(1), 11, 12(1), 12(2), 20(1) and 26.
Procedure
18. Communication 147/95 is dated 6th September 1995 and was received on 30th November 1995 at the
Secretariat of the Commission.
19. Communication 149/96 was received on 12th January 1996 at the Secretariat of the Commission.
20. At the 19th Session in March 1996, the Commission decided to be seized of the communication and to
notify the government accordingly, and stated that a decision on admissibility would be taken at the 20th
Session in October 1996.
21. At its 21st Session in April 1997, the Commission decided to renumber the communication as 147/95 to
reflect the length of time it has been with the Commission, it also decided to join the communication with
149/96 and declare both of them admissible. The Commission also requested further information from both
sides and stated that a decision on the merits would be taken at its 22nd Session.
Law
Admissibility
22. Article 56 of the African Charter governs the admissibility of communications by the Commission. This
article lays down seven conditions that, under normal circumstances must be fulfilled for a communication
to be admissible. Have the seven, the government claims that two conditions have not been fulfilled;
namely; Article 56(4) and 56(5).
23. Article 56(4) of the Charter provides that communications '... are not based exclusively on news
disseminated through the mass media'.
24. The government claims that the communication should be declared inadmissible because it is based
exclusively on news disseminated through the mass media, and specifically made reference to the attached
letter of Captain Ebou Jallow. While it would be dangerous to rely exclusively on news disseminated from
the mass media, it would be equally damaging if the Commission were to reject a communication because
some aspects of it are based on news disseminated through the mass media. This is borne out of the fact
that the Charter makes use of the word "exclusively".
25. There is no doubt that the media remains the most important, if not the only source of information. It is
common knowledge that information on human rights violations is always gotten from the media. The
genocide in Rwanda, the human rights abuses in Burundi, Zaire, Congo, to name but a few, were revealed
by the media.
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