Ebou Colly

This was another excellent piece. I have not found any
typographical errors this time. I cannot elaborate
further on this masterpiece as it seems to be very
credible and compelling to us that you people
encountered some serious problems at Mile II.

I am sure "Lers" would appreciate if you deliberate on
when Sabally and Hydara joined you and others at Mile
II prison. Were they given "a first class" treatment
by the Prison Authorities?

Once again thanks for enlightening us on what most
people had not heard of before. Keep up the good work,
this material may one day be useful for those who
intend to research on July 22 and its implication for
Human Rights in The Gambia

Chi jaama

Sanusi







--- ebou colly <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > COUP IN
GAMBIA TEN
> Mr. Sanusi thanks for your observation over that
> typo
> date on Captain Johnson's training period in the US.
> It should have been 1986 instead of 1996. I totally
> missed it.
> On our dehumanizing jail experience, I ended my last
> piece with the list of the names of all those who
> were
> detained at Mile Two Prisons during the early days
> of
> the AFPRC rule of terror. However as I said earlier
> the first couple of weeks were unimaginably horrible
> but we eventually came to live with it at ease as
> typical of all human spirit, regardless of what. But
> I
> guess it was primarily the sense of innocence felt
> by
> almost everybody over the illegality of our
> predicament that helped us endure the pain. Without
> doubt it was really painful.
> Another factor behind our ability to adapt to the
> death-row horror was the early realization by prison
> officials that after all we were held for nothing
> serious to make them enforce their stiff rules on
> us.
> There were in fact few of the prison officials who
> expressed their open solidarity with us calling it
> naked tribal prejudice and fear of men considered
> more
> competent than those in charge. Consequently, by the
> end of August, the period I estimated to be the end
> on
> the arrest and detention spree of officers', things
> began to look hopeful.
> We were aware of the poor rating the AFPRC were
> facing
> from the public who for a while could not exactly
> understand what was going on. Sana on the other hand
> had come up with a Fafa Mbye-tailored decree about
> us,
> which among other things had stated that our
> detention
> would not exceed six months. However during those
> six
> months, we were to be subjected to a review board
> headed by a foreign judge to determine our guilt or
> innocence. Any one found guilty was to be prosecuted
> while the innocent would of course be freed.
> Everyone behind bars was therefore convinced that,
> going by the decree's conditions we would before
> long
> go free. Interestingly, each detainee started to
> calculate his detention date against the exact date
> in
> the future that should end his six-month term. Those
> who were arrested on the 22nd July tagged 22nd
> January
> as their final dates. I made my calculation too.
> July
> 27th was my detention date, so January 27th was
> supposed to be my last day. What I did not know was
> that by divine intervention, that day, the 27th of
> January was going to be the day Sana and Haidara
> were
> to join us in chains.
> Anyhow as we eagerly awaited the convening order for
> the review board, the conditions got better in the
> jail giving us the needed opportunity to interact
> among ourselves and compare experiences we had
> during
> the coup. We even started receiving provisions from
> our families-biscuits, cakes and the like.
> However, an important matter raised by Captain Mamat
> Cham was his experience at the residence of Colonel
> Akogie where some of them had spent the whole period
> of the coup operation. He was there with Baboucarr
> Jatta and Lt. Ebrima Cambi. Captain Cham disclosed
> that at the early hours of the coup, the Senegalese
> authorities actually called up the Nigerian colonel
> who was in charge of the GNA at the time asking for
> whether they could send troops to help foil the
> coup.
> The colonel declined the offer assuring them that
> they
> could handle the crisis.
> By all indications the Nigerians for some reasons
> known to them were hoping or confident that they
> were
> going to come up with a solution to the problem. It
> was however learnt that Colonel Gwadebeh, General
> Dada's successor who never was, went at length to
> convince General Sani Abacha to allow him to
> mobilize
> Nigerian troops to intervene and restore the PPP
> government. Abacha was reported to have blessed the
> colonel's idea, but when the latter started the
> mobilization process, he was some how warned to
> abort
> the mission. That ended all Nigerian military plans
> to
> come in 1994. The Abacha government later accused
> Colonel Gwadebeh of coup plot and almost executed
> him
> in 1996. His death penalty sentence was commuted to
> life. He was lucky that Abacha died and they set him
> free in a general amnesty.
> Anyhow, the reason for the Nigerians not to accept
> the
> Senegalese offer is a historical puzzle that I hope
> scholars would someday make us understand.
> In jail, September began fairly normal with the
> conditions still considered improving. We even began
> to get use to the unappetizing food, enjoying the
> dark-colored pap and nightly "chereh" with boiled
> bonga fish.
> Then there came the 5th of September. The prison
> guards and their supervisors were all changed to
> mainly Jola crewmen. Headed by David Colly, things
> suddenly changed back to the conditions of the first
> days. The twenty- four hour behind bars policy was
> reintroduced. David Colly brought us papers to sign
> from Vice Chaiman Sabally stating in effect that we
> were under detention for security reasons and that
> he
> was directly responsible for whatever may happen to
> us. It was the first time we saw a written statement
> from the government telling us anything about our
> detention. There was no charge or reason given for
> our
> detention. It was also disappointing that the
> so-called review board headed by a foreign judge was
> not mentioned in Sabally's three-sentence statement.
> Another strange thing that happened was the transfer
> of all civilian prisoners we found at death row to
> another location. The other detainees who were
> locked
> up in other locations were also brought over to us
> "Block #4". Major Sheriff Mbye, Captain Alieu Ndure
> and Cambi were among those transferred from another
> block to ours.
> Everything was a serious cause for concern. Then
> Sergeant Major Alagie Faye, whose cell was very
> close
> to the common footpath outside, gave us the
> disturbing
> information that at the early hours of the morning,
> between 1:00 to 2:00 a.m., he had heard footsteps of
> numerous people walking in and around the area. And
> when he peeped through his narrow window, he had
> seen
> members of the AFPRC with a lot of guards looking
> around. He had particularly identified Edward
> Singhateh and Sana Sabally.
> Around 6:00 p.m., one hour after our regular time to
> go to bed, another strange thing happened. A senior
> prison officer, S.P.O. Joberteh whom we understood
> was
> the duty officer the previous night was brought in
> handcuffs and locked up in one of the cells. The
> man's
> crime was explained to have been his absence from
> the
> facility when the AFPRC members arrived in the
> morning
> and wanted to visit the detainees. Since he was the
> man in charge, nobody was allowed to go into the
> blocks in his absence. In fact as a rigid rule,
> prisoners or detainees' cells were never to be
> opened
> after the time they consider after hour-5: 00 p.m.
> With the whole day being so worrisome, we decided to
> spend the rest of the night praying for our safety.
> I did not know when I slept that night, but suddenly
> the noise of the main door being unchained or
> unlocked
> woke me up at about 1:00 a.m. I was in number one
> cell
> that was very close to the door. As a result, I was
> the first to see the devils walking in when the door
> was opened.
> Yes Edward Singhateh in full combat outfit armed
> with
> an AK47 was the first to walk in with heavily armed
> guards yelling for Captain Mamat Cham to tell him
> his
> cell location. The late Antou Saidy, Deputy
> Commissioner of prisons was the next person I
> noticed
> carrying the bunch of keys that opened the cell
> doors.
> Then there was Sana Sabally, Sadibou Haidara and
> Yankuba Touray. Everyone was fully armed followed by
> a
> section or more of their guards.
> Anyway it was Singhateh who did most of the talking.
> After calling for Cham until the captain's cell was
> found, he ordered for the door to be opened telling
> him to say his last prayer because he was going to
> die
> that day. "People are saying that Yaya's government
> is
>
=== message truncated ===

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