Mr. Colly, again, I must start by commending you for your dedication to the
struggle and for your invaluable contributions. If it were not for you,
these stories would have gone untold. Or worse still, others might have told
the story, and people would doubt them. But the way you presented the facts
is simply irrefutable. You told what you saw and heard first hand. I join
you and hope that the other officers that were tortured outside your line of
vision would come out and say what actually happened. This will help
Gambians realize what kinds of animals we are dealing with.

In a way I was looking forward to hearing this rendition from you and the
central role Singhateh (the sadist) played in this matter. People should
understand that the vermin is STILL in power. We all thought that Sabally
was a loose-canon. But even if he was, the vermin is now impotent. I
understand when AFPRC tortured him, he was weeping like a small boy. What is
significant here is for people to see that when they encounter Singhateh,
they are looking at a sick puppy. Worst coward you can encounter. He needs
to get drunk before he can face his fellow men in combat. Besides that, the
coward is not even ashamed to handcuff a man (Mamat Cham), surround himself
(Singhateh) with guards, have an AK-47 and pretend that he is fighting with
Cham. This is just sickening. Like Kujabi said, one day this very Singhateh
will follow Sabally's footsteps and wail like a little puppy when we catch
up with him. Everyone knows that the vermin is a sadist coward. People
should not be fooled by his meek demeanor. He is just filled with
inferiority complex and lacks self-confidence. That is why he does not say
much. In order to measure up, they engage in some machismo and go get drunk
and torture people. Well, they will account for their actions. And this time
around, 'Dead Row' will mean exactly that. When they are tried and
convicted, they will all be hung like the cowards they are. None of them
will be taken to a firing squad and executed as honorable soldiers.
Henceforth, I will advocate that they be hung at Independence Stadium for
everyone to see. Animals.

Mr. Colly, another reason I was looking forward to this was to sensitize
people about the plight of Dumo et al. People have to understand the
conditions under which these innocent citizens are held. Remember, Singhateh
is still at the helm of the government. The sadist still calls some shots.
Yaya might have rendered him impotent to some extent. But Singhateh is still
free to exercise his animal behavior on other people so long as Yaya and his
Jola friends are spared. We have to fight for our political prisoners. No
Gambian deserves to be put under these horrendous and inhumane conditions. I
am glad that you lived to tell your story. The price you guys paid for being
smart, upright, and real soldiers is simply too expensive. Your only crime
was being decent soldiers that were not Jola. That is all.

Mr. Colly, please continue the tremendous work you are doing. I hope other
soldiers that were detained with you also come out with their stories. As
you know, your revelations have been well received by the Gambian public.
Families of the victims of the AFPRC/APRC are very thankful to you. I
personally thought I knew a  lot about some of these things, but each time I
read you, I discover some things that I never knew. The revelations about Pa
Johnson is a case in point. Fine soldier and a good man. Reading today about
Major Chongan, I discovered things I did not know before. I heard about how
he was singled out and taken out of the cells to the mock execution. What I
did not know was Singhateh's role and the torture that preceded the mock
executions. All I was told was that Chongan was taken out and the rest of
the prisoners never saw him again. The person that told me this was released
perhaps before Chongan rejoined you guys. At the time, I thought that we
were simply dealing with mental torture here. The vermin just wanted to
scare the rest of the officers. Now come to think of it, this was simply
wishful thinking on my part. I just did not want to believe that such a
horrible thing happened to a fine man like Chongan. I say this was wishful
thinking on my part because the gentleman that told me the story also
mentioned that there was blood all over the cell walls the following
morning. But Colly, to tell you the extent people are willing to go in order
to be in denial, I will reveal here my gullibility at the time. Because I
was so concerned about Chongan, I sought to explain to myself why the blood
was on the walls. I did not want to think about the obvious. I simply told
myself that the blood was also planted there by the vermin in order to scare
you people, but it was not from Chongan et al. I must tell you that up to
today, even though I know that what you said actually happened, I do not
want to believe it. I was somewhat relieved that you did not go into the
nitty-gritty of what happened to Chongan in particular. Not that I am
indifferent to the plight of Mamat Cham and others, it is just that I do not
know him as much as I know Chongan. It is not easy to accept that such
injustice has been meted on people you know. I am also happy that like you,
Chongan also lived through these inhumane conditions. What did he do wrong?
First and foremost he is not a Jola. Secondly, he was brave enough on July
22, 1994 to stand up and do his constitutionally mandated duty by defending
the legitimate government of the day. Unlike vermin like Antouman Saho,
Chongan did not roll over to let the vermin walk all over him.

I look forward to the day when you will get justice against the vermin that
abducted you, illegally incarcerated you, and tortured you. May they all rot
in Hell.
KB



>From: ebou colly <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: COUP IN GAMBIA TEN
>Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2001 20:53:39 -0700
>
>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
>worst than that of Idi Amin", Edward went on, "but
>today we will demonstrate it to everyone that we don't
>care".
>After his cell was opened Captain Cham was ordered to
>get down on his knees and place both his hands behind
>his back. He obeyed begging for mercy as Singhateh put
>a handcuff on his wrists. Cham's cell was in the inner
>part of the block, a dimly lit area. So they began to
>drag him on the cement floor towards our area. It was
>brighter around there.
>As if he was waiting to come right under the light,
>Singhateh suddenly stopped and began to rain deadly
>blows on the handcuffed captain using the wooden butt
>of his AK47. He kicked him on the ribs, butt-struck
>him on the shoulders, back, head and everywhere,
>calling his guards to do the same. One or two of them
>gave the captain few kicks but Singhateh carried out
>the whole senseless beating. Even Sabally, Haidara and
>Touray just stood watching him until he lost his
>breath.
>The captain cried for mercy until he could no longer
>say a word. I thought he had even fainted.  Singhateh
>reach for his hands behind his back again and
>continued the dragging out of the block to the sharp
>cutting pebbles outside. Everyone followed.
>After a minute or so we heard gunshot fired in rapid
>volleys at the back of the block. If you understood
>flying pattern of fired rounds from assault riffles,
>you would be able to determine that the bullets were
>fired in the air and not at anyone as they wanted us
>to believe.
>I was however positive that I was going to be the next
>person to be tortured. I was also sure that they would
>come back.
>They came back. But it was Major Chongan they went
>for. He was also handcuffed, dragged on the cement
>floor and beaten mercilessly before they took him to
>the back and fired shots in the air again.
>The next victim was Sergeant Major Baboucarr Jeng
>(RSM).
>This NCO's torture really got into me. He was
>suffering from severe neck pain he got from a grenade
>accident he sustained from an exercise few years ago.
>His condition was also bad enough to require treatment
>abroad. Because of the terrible sleeping conditions in
>the jail the state of his neck worsen. At the night he
>was being tortured he could barely move his neck.  He
>was still beaten until I thought he was going to die.
>After kicking and hitting until he ran out of breath
>again Singhateh leaned back against the wall breathing
>heavily. There he saw me looking at him from my cell.
>He leaped forward yelling at me not to look at him.
>"You f---ing liar", he said. "You said the Americans
>had amphibious tanks which was a lie".
>He gave me all kinds of verbal abuse as I stood there
>praying to be spared from the torture. He then raised
>his weapon and ordered me to lie down on the floor and
>never to show up my face to the window again. I
>complied immediately.
>From my cell I could smell the heavy concentration of
>alcohol from his breath .
>The beating of RSM Jeng was resumed. He was later
>dragged away followed by the usual gunshots.
>By this time some of their guards were quietly going
>from cell to cell telling those they could not to
>worry, for there was execution. It was all meant to
>scare us.
>When they returned one could sense how most of them
>had had enough of the Singhateh-led torture. Haidara
>and Sabally were heard making remarks that showed that
>they had had enough. Yankuba was also heard saying
>"Sings it's enough". That was after Singhateh went to
>Catain Sonko's cell and gave him three nasty slaps
>that left his fingerprints in the face of the officer
>for days. Then he moved to Lt. Sheriff Gomeze's cell
>and aimed the muzzle of his weapon directly at him
>teasing him to say a word. He teased him about being a
>slave to the Nigerians, especially Colonel Audu whose
>adjutant he was. The lieutenant knew better. He also
>remained quiet.
>They left soon after saying that they would be back
>the next day. I could hear Yankuba Touray laughing
>saying  "Amphibious, be ready tomorrow, it is going to
>be your turn with Captain Sonko and Lieutenant Gomez.
>It was thinkable that government officials of their
>position had nothing to do but come to the state
>prison to physically carry out that maddening torture
>against innocent detainees. If these monsters were to
>lead the nation then it was apparent that the Gambian
>people had a big trouble ahead of them.
>Cham, Chongan and Jeng were never seen again until
>January 27th when they were brought back for the final
>preparations to bring in Sabally and Haidara.
>I wish these men could tell you the terror they had
>gone through during that period when they were placed
>under solitary confinement. They later told us that
>for 43 days they were not allowed to have any form of
>bath. They wore the same clothes, no toilet articles,
>no toothpaste or brush and worst of all the injuries
>they suffered from the beatings were not treated. They
>healed on their own. Captain Cham suffered the worse
>injuries with bruises all over his knees not
>mentioning the swollen parts of his entire body.
>The whole thing may have been done to scare us, but
>drunkards playing with guns loaded with real bullets
>is like drunk driving at its worst. It was possible
>for a round to accidentally hit someone and kill him.
>Then the next thing you know, they would say since one
>had died there was no reason to spare the rest. And
>mark you, Lt. Kanteh's warning that Singhateh was on a
>serious campaign to have us executed was still a
>matter of concern.
>As a result when they did not come the following day
>as they had said, I tried a deceptive plan that
>everyone later agreed helped the situation for the
>better. For five days I acted as if I was so
>frightened that I refused to eat and even lost my
>mind. I used a towel to cover my face and head,
>refusing to talk to people or look at anyone in the
>face. In the mean time however, I had some biscuits
>hidden in my pants munching them every night to help
>ease the hunger. Also it was prison policy that if a
>prisoner refused to eat his food for any reason the
>meal had to be left there untouched until the
>following morning. The pap was very helpful. I could
>eat some of it at and dilute it with water without
>anyone knowing.
>Almost everyone was convinced that something was
>seriously wrong with me out of fright except one
>prison office P.O. Thomos Jarju. This guy saw the coup
>as a Jola revolution that they must support by all
>means. He would quote a similar pretence of sickness
>once pulled on them by the late Alieu Sallah after the
>1981 coup. Anyway he was the only one in doubt of my
>actions.
>By the second day, the police C.I.D. were sent to come
>and take our statements for the review board.
>Everybody's statement was taken except mine. When it
>was my turn as the last person, P.O. Thomas Jarju
>insisted that I must go. I was dragged out of my cell
>to their main office. Gonel Bah was the head of the
>team. They tried everything to make me write my
>statement but I pretended as if I did not know what
>the heck I was saying or doing.
>By the fourth day everything was focused on me.
>Sometimes things were funny but because of the towel I
>had over my face they could not notice it when I had
>to chuckle over some fun.
>However at night when the doors were locked up, I
>would write the minute events of the day on tissue
>papers that are still with me. I was able to document
>most of the things that happened during my ten months
>of detention. And it was easy to smuggle the records
>to a safe place outside. With few Dalasis the prison
>officers could do anything for you.
>On the fifth day, I decided to call off the acting. At
>that time the freedom we used to enjoy before the
>night of the terror was back again.
>For those I thought needed to know, I later talked to
>them in private explaining what happened. It was easy
>to convince them that I was acting by telling them the
>exact remarks they made or their actions at times when
>they thought I could not understand anything.
>The devils never came back.
>
>
>
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