University of The Gambia (UTG) and the country's Arts and Culture Department have lined up a series of activities to commemorate 200 years since the abolition of slave trade, according to a media communiqué issued by the university authorities Thursday.

Exactly 200 years ago, in 1807, parliament in Britain voted for a legislation abolishing the slave trade. The UTG, in the press release, described slave trade as "one of the worst holocausts known to mankind."

Going by documented evidence, over 10 million African souls were lost in the human trade. "It is also documented that the Sene-Gambia region lost approximately 3 million or more of its people to the Slave Trade," the UTG added.

Gambia's National Council for Arts and Culture in collaboration with its tourism department and UTG prepared a week-long program to highlight the notoriety of the trade and promote the West African country as a tourist destination.

Thousands of tourists visit Gambia every year, largely due to its culture and the significant role the tiny country played during the slave trade. 23 March 2007 - PANA