http://allafrica.com/stories/200301170322.html

US Ambassador's Would-Be Assassin Speaks Out

The Independent (Banjul)
NEWS
January 17, 2003
Posted to the web January 17, 2003

By Jalamang Jammeh & Namory Trawally
Banjul

The main suspect in an alleged plot to as sassinate US Ambassador Jackson
McDonald arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and later left
in the hands of US intelligence agents for further interrogation was
released after he was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Nagi al Mawla a Lebanese with business connections in Ivory Coast told The
Independent, Wednesday that he was arrested Friday January 10 after Jumuah
prayers by the NIA and spent a day under their custody before he met CIA
and FBI agents who subjected him to several hours of intense questioning.
Hassan Bassy a Sierra Leonean-Lebanese who was visiting Mawla at the time
of the arrest was also bundled along.

According to Mawla 52, he was initially in The Gambia in December to donate
medicines to the Department of Health after he met the Gambian High
Commissioner in Senegal Ebou Momar Taal who encouraged him to invest in The
Gambia as a businessman whose orbit of operations was around the Gulf Arab
states. He said during an encounter with Taal and The Gambian Consul in
Guinea Conakry he was advised by them to visit The Gambia for bauxite.

He said he was arrested while he was here on a second visit to test the
business waters, eventually settling for the idea of marketing gas cookers
and refrigerators in The Gambia, an investment he estimated would be in the
neighbourhood of $200, 000. At the time of his arrest, competent sources
had alluded that Mawla's identity and location was given away by an unknown
individual who informed the US intelligence about alleged plans by the
Lebanese to assassinate the US Ambassador in The Gambia. Sources said the
informer had claimed that the would-be assassin was staying opposite the
residential compound of the US Ambassador, a reference to the Francisco
Hotel where Mawla was arrested just after the Friday prayers (3pm). He
reportedly gave US intelligence the suspect's room number after which the
CIA sent a fax to the NIA chronicling details answering to Mawla's
description. According to sources this was enough reason for the NIA to act
and prevent what was feared as a dangerous attempt on the US Ambassador's
life. Mawla himself confirmed that he is a diamond agent and sources went
further to claim that he recently sold diamonds in Dubai and was expecting
a commission of $800, 000, which never reached him. By the benefit of
hindsight, sources believe that Mawla's Dubai contact had deliberately set
him up to get him out of the way.

Speaking in halting English, Mr. Mawla denied any knowledge of plans to
assassinate Ambassador McDonald and said his first day under NIA custody
was uneventful because he was kept in a closed room and kindly attended to
by Gambians who provided his every need. Mawla explained that during his
second day in detention, he was whisked in front of a team of CIA and FBI
investigators who questioned him intensely for his possible links to
terrorists working for al-Qaeda, Afghanistan and Iraq, all of which he
laboriously denied. The Lebanese who was the Ivorian consul for five Gulf
Arab states, and is currently married to an Ivorian-Lebanese explained that
he had never heard of al-Qaeda before September 11 and had no links to any
group of people with leanings or sympathies for terrorists anywhere in the
world. He said he was also asked whether he visited Afghanistan and Iraq or
had any connections with Islamists in Pakistan and he replied in the
negative.

Mawla whose personal effects such as mobiles (local and international),
chequebook and credit cards were still being kept by CIA and FBI agents at
the time of the interview explained that although his American
interrogators were polite, they were insistent with their barrage of
questions. According to a tired-looking Mawla, after it was put to him that
he was possibly trying to assassinate the US Ambassador, he had replied
with shock disbelief. He said when he had asked them why he would want to
kill Jackson McDonald, one of his American interrogators had retorted
that 'because you are an Arab Muslim'. Mawla said his reply to this retort
was a wry 'thank you' as the investigators continued to grill him with
questions about his business and occupation. 'Never in my life did I felt
like killing somebody more so the US Ambassador for what' he remonstrated
with The Independent. Asked whether he had had any problems with anybody,
Mawla said he once quarreled with Muhammed Marani a Qatari who he said
disappeared with his money. Mawla also claimed that while he was in Ivory
Coast, he met a Nigerian who fled with his money amounting to 120 million
CFA.

Nagi also said he was asked whether he had tried to enter the United States
and he had replied in the affirmative. 'In 1975 I tried to secure a family
visa to stay temporarily in the US as a breather from the civil war in
Lebanon but we were rejected because we are Muslims. Only Lebanese
Christians were given US visas' he said, adding that he was still
interested to visit the United States for a temporary stay as a tourist.

Asked whether his experience had left him entertaining qualms or discontent
against his Gambian and American interrogators, Nagi remarked, 'they were
all very nice. I feel for the American people after September 11 just like
I felt for the people of my country Lebanon during the civil war. I
understand the problems of trying to defeat terrorism. I am not angry yes I
lost my time yes I could not contact my family but I think all of us have
to contribute to fight terrorism'. He also apologised to the American
people for sending their investigators to The Gambia for what was a wrong
catch.

Nagi, who has two brothers living and working in the United States and
Canada, said he is not in a hurry to leave The Gambia. Should he decide to
leave, the Lebanese said he would notify the Gambian authorities of his
travel plans, to impress upon the whole world that he has nothing sinister
or untoward up his sleeves. Nagi who described the Gambia as the first
African country, whose security had impressed him tremendously, spoke
glowingly about Gambians as 'having a good heart'.

'While I was in custody I was vomiting blood and I was taken to a private
hospital. The personal intervention of the Director General of the NIA made
this possible. Gambians have a good heart and I am grateful to them,
especially to Francis Jarra of the Francisco Hotel, where I am lodged' he
said.

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