COUP IN GAMBIA EIGHT
In my last piece I explained how after two days of
confusion at the State House following the immediate
takeover that the so-called coup organizers finally
came together and formed a ruling military council
with Yaya given the leadership role as the most senior
officer among them. Still guided by their order of
seniority Sabally, as I said, got the number two
position, followed by Haidara, then Singhateh and
Yankuba in that order.
However, for those of us within, there was no question
about who was really in charge. Singhateh was no doubt
the man calling the shots with unprecedented
arrogance. Of course there was crazy Sana battling for
equal recognition or rights, acting on his erratic
whims, though with a dangerous bond with the new
defense minister. Most of the arrests and detentions
of officers to Mile Two Central Prisons were
orchestrated by Singhateh and Sabally, although the
physical apprehension of those detainees was largely
carried out by the "Mighty Sabally" aided by Haidara
and their guards. Sabally in addition showed little
respect for Yaya, just as Singhateh at that initial
moment demonstrated none at all to their new chairman
either. As for Sabally he had maintained his
disrespect for Yaya for the entire six months he had
served as vice-chairman of the AFPRC or up to the day
he was arrested on the 27th January 1995.
It did not however take Yaya too long to realize that
potential enemies surrounded him. For a while it
appeared as if he was lost in survival plans. But
then, the US ambassador Mr. Andrew Winters came asking
for the coup leader to speak to Sir Dawda by phone. It
was the very day Yaya got elected as chairman of the
AFPRC. Mr. Winters did not specifically ask for
Singhateh, but the head of the military government.
Yaya as a result was certain that he was the person
the Ambassador wanted to talk to Sir Dawda until
Singhateh told him to forget about going and left with
Mr. Winters.
This particular incident in the development of the
whole coup episode told a lot about how the success of
those clowns in seizing power was merely luck and
nothing of the sort of great leadership they later
tried to sell to the gullible Gambian masses. Nothing
was properly planned or executed.
Anyhow, it was after this embarrassing encounter with
Singhateh that Yaya started to forge his personal
defense scheme. Yaya was definitely not pleased with
that treatment. So no sooner had Singhateh left with
the ambassador to speak to Sir Dawda than Yaya began
to surround himself with guards he trusted. And it was
interesting to note that he got the bulk of these men
from his former gendermarie colleagues. The men they
were suppose to fight were suddenly turned into
dependable allies within Yaya's inner security circle.
Soon he put it to his new guards that soldiers
carrying weapons were not to be allowed near him
especially around his room upstairs. (After his
appointment, he immediately moved upstairs and
occupied Sir Dawda's main bedroom). His guards, now
headed by Musa Jammeh strictly enforced the order from
Yaya on every armed soldier except on Singhateh and
Sabally.
Anyway in their presence, Yaya was still very cautious
in the manner he dealt with them. Perhaps he was aware
of the intentions of these key players in the coup to
have most of the officers executed later. I'll get to
that later.
Before forgetting this important point, I thought it
historically necessary to mention the special role
played by Major Malick Njie (Army Doctor) at those
first critical days of the coup. Although he was just
from course in Nigeria and was on his leave, he
managed to respond to the invitation to the State
House. For two days he also stayed around to see how
he could help stabilize the situation. With his
medical background therefore he was assigned with the
special task of ensuring that the Royal Victoria
Hospital was fully operational plus all the medical
centers affected by the coup outside Banjul. For three
days he tirelessly moved from one affected medical
facility to the other until everyone of them was back
to full operation. On the fifth day, when he came to
give the council members a situation report on his
achievements, Sabally and Haidara arrested him and
took him straight to death row. It was a very cowardly
and treacherous act.
However by the 25th of July, things started to look
hopefully stable. The soldiers' uncontrolled and
dangerous driving in the city had considerably
dwindled. There were negligible problems here and
there which in the final analysis made the coup a
relatively peaceful event. One sergeant was arrested
for robbing a Mauritanian shopkeeper in Brikama at
gunpoint. Another corporal was also arrested for
trying to steal the engine of a Mercedes Benz parked
at the former Secretary General's residence at Fajara.
There was also a civilian arrested wearing military
uniform pretending to be a soldier and extorting money
from commercial drivers around Soma. He was a seasoned
criminal who had traveled all over the world and could
speak all kinds of languages, local and foreign. A
weapon in his hands would have been too deadly. And
finally there was one soldier who out of excitement or
whatever, accidentally shot him self on the foot. It
was not very serious anyway. Apart from those isolated
incidents, the country quickly began to return to
normalcy by the 25th of July.
At that moment Captain Mamat Cham was so pleased with
General Dada's assistance that he recommended for the
Nigerian General to be invited to the State House for
more help. The idea was communicated to the general,
which he readily accepted but requested for a vehicle
to be sent to get him. But at the last minute when
Captain Cham was about to dispatch a vehicle to get
him from Fajara, Singhateh vetoed the idea.
Anyhow, later that day, Captain Cham had a bigger
responsibility of helping the council members choose
civilian ministers for the new cabinet. Apart from Mr.
Bakary Darbo who was selected out of  sincere respect
and confidence most of the AFPRC members had for the
former Finance Minister, I really didn't know the
criteria used to select the others including my very
self.
All I knew was that a special meeting to select the
ministers was again conducted upstairs by the room
occupied by Yaya. Captain Cham was present. And I was
made to understand that he, Captain Cham recommended
the appointment of Fafa Mbye as minister of justice
and also Mr. Mawdo Touray as chief protocol officer.
Like previous missions outside, Captain Cham was the
officer who went to meet most or all the prospective
ministers at their home to seek their consent for
their formal appointment. On his return he reported
everyone's acceptance of the appointments except that
of the candidate from the PDOIS party. They rejected
the offer on the basis that the coup was undemocratic
and was against the principles of their party
doctrine.
However, it was Singhateh who informed me of my
appointment as minister for trade and industry. He
told me that the decision to give me that position was
derived from their strong confidence in my ability to
offer a valuable contribution to the course.
Up to that moment nothing of serious importance could
be attributed to the reason why the PPP government was
overthrown. And that was evident in the manner the
former top executive members of that government were
treated in comparison to how the GNA senior officers
in particular suffered the misdirected stupidity and
anger of the fools. There was nothing logical in
arresting the officers who had nothing to do with
their success or failure or their purpose of
overthrowing the government. Speaking to Yaya about
trying to stop Sana was useless. He would express his
dissatisfaction with Sabally's actions in the absence
of the vice-chairman, but as soon as Sana surfaced
with more names of officers he just arrested, Yaya
would commend him for a job well done. It was hard to
understand when the whole madness would end. Some of
us were however hoping that by the time the new
government became fully operational; they would put
Sana in his place and allow civility to prevail. We
did not know that Sabally after all had gotten into
something too much for his midget head and that only
by applying his maddening rules of the game against
him would he be finally tamed. It was done on the 27th
of January 1995. That was the day Yaya and Singhateh
came together at last and dragged Sabally and his
friend Haidara by the tails straight to death row as
well. We gave them a warm welcome that day.
Anyway, as the general situation indicated in the
beginning, there was nothing of significance that the
AFPRC government could say were the serious crimes
committed by the PPP government towards the Gambian
people to warrant the coup. And until those kangaroo
courts were created as commissions of enquiry boards
to implicate the Gambians they simply hated, there was
still little for them to say. In the process, the
crude oil saga was dug out giving them their first
anti-PPP ammunition that boosted their public image.
With 420 million Dalasi said to have been involved in
what the commission reported as "embezzlement of
public funds", Yaya started calling Sir Dawda and his
government "Dirmos…! Dirmos…! Dirmos…! (Well, time has
proven to all of us that when looking for the biggest
Dirmo of the century, missing Doctor Dirmo Yaya Jammeh
leaves you with nobody better qualified for the
crown). The fact that he was caught red handed on a
crude oil corruption saga coupled with all kind of
racketeering-blood diamond, arms trafficking
etceteras- not in Dalasi but millions of dollars was
enough to drag him out of State House straight to
death row.
Anyhow, the fact of the matter was that we were poorly
armed with good reasons for the coup. Yet we were
appointed ministers and expected by all means to
justify our positions or actions to the Gambian
public.
The following day however, the other ministerial
positions were formally announced over Radio Gambia.
That evening, I did not stay too late at the state
house. For the first time since the coup I decided to
go home and spend the night with my family. Before
leaving I spoke to Yaya at the balcony by his room. He
even asked me to make sure that I reported for duty
early the next morning since it was supposed to be the
day for the swearing in of the newly appointed
civilian ministers. We were very close indeed,
providing us with the opportunity to talk about a lot
of things. He treated me with respect and I thought he
was a genuine good person. We even discussed the
urgency for him to look into getting a wife since he
was without one at the time. He agreed that it would
be his top priority before long. And he definitely had
someone in mind around Brikama.
Oh, by the way, I think the 26th of July was the day
IGP Pa Sallah Jagne returned from Dakar. He was among
those who joined the America vessel with Sir Dawda and
his family. Upon his arrival, Sabally and Haidara
arrested and chained him to Mile Two Prisons.
A week or two later Lamin Kaba Bajo also returned from
Dakar. Within weeks he was appointed Commissioner
Western Division. Too hard to reason out!
I slept at home that night but Captain Cham spent the
night at his usual room at the state house.
 The following morning I drove myself from my house to
the State House. I did not have any driver or guards.
Few soldiers had come to me asking for whether they
could become my guards but I turned their offers down.
I did not feel the need for guards anyway.
It was about 8:00 a.m. when I drove into State House.
There were a lot of soldiers standing around with a
hand full of officers as well. The most senior officer
was Lieutenant Ebrima Cambi.
Interestingly, Lt. Cambi was one person Yaya wanted to
see arrested They had had personal problems before
regarding an army vehicle that Lt. Cambi forced Yaya
to ground on the orders of Colonel Akogie. When I
first heard him talking about arresting Lt. Cambi I
was lucky to talk him out of it. After that I called
Lt. Cambi and warned him to be careful of his
activities before he was arrested. Anyhow by the
morning of the 27th of July all arrests plans for the
lieutenant seemed to have been forgotten. Weeks after
he was nailed down. He was the last officer to be
arrested around the middle of August.
As expected when I alighted, Lt. Cambi called every
person on the ground to attention before he saluted
me. I saluted back and told him to stand everybody at
ease and carry on. Typical military rituals!
I walked into the building, took the stairs straight
up to Yaya's room. The area was unusually quiet. There
was only one guard around, Corporal Mballo Saidykhan.
He was a former member of the presidential guard. I
was really surprised to hear from the corporal that
Yaya was still sleeping since he went to bed last
night. After being so particular about timing that
morning for the  swearing in ceremony of the new
cabinet ministers, it was surprising that he was still
in bed. I later added one and one and figured the
whole thing out. Yaya just did not want to meet me
because of the conspiracy they had hatched against us
the previous night.
I walked across the corridor and ran into Singhateh.
When I spoke to him, I noted some degree of arrogance
and rudeness in his voice. He walked away from me.
 Down the hallway there was the room occupied by
Sabally and Haidara. They were in a cheerful mood
until they saw me walking in. I even tried to joke
with them but by their reaction they showed me that I
was not at all funny to them. I took a seat on one of
the chairs in the room; they both got up and left the
room. It was now clear to me that something had
seriously gone wrong.
Captain Mamat Cham was in the next room. I was
slightly relieved when I saw him. He was nice and
spoke to me just like before, although I found him
talking to some civilians about the current situation.
Among them was Mr. Bolong Sonko who was the chosen
minister of external affairs.
There were also officials from the Gambia Ports
Authority with reports of emergency international
monetary transactions that were to be attended to
ASAP.
Anyway I was able to get Captain Cham to talk to me
one to one at the back of the room. I asked him what
had happened the previous night after explaining to
him my strange encounters in the last ten to fifteen
minutes. At first he insisted that nothing unusual
happened but when I pressed him further to think about
everything that had happened last night, he talked
about Singhateh's rude behavior.
According to the Captain at around 3.00 a.m.,
Singhateh woke him up from his sleep and told him to
vacate the room and go to a smaller one because, by
appointment he was his senior as the minister of
defense. Asked what he did, Cham said that he accepted
without argument and moved to the other room. After a
short while, Singhateh came back to him and informed
him to go back to the room he was asked to leave. He
went back, and that was the last time he saw or spoke
to him.
"Do you know that Yaya is still in bed?" I asked cham.
He did not know and was equally struck by the unusual
lateness..
It was barely five minutes later when a soldier walked
in, saluted me and asked me to answer the
Vice-Chairman downstairs. That was very unusual again.
Whatever Sana had wanted to tell me out of the
ordinary he could have said it when I met him with
Haidara minutes ago.
I left Captain Cham to attend to his civilian guests
and went down the stairs to the lower floor. Sana was
outside the building waiting for me. He asked for
Captain Cham.
"He is upstairs", I said.
The same soldier was sent back up to get him.
In the meantime I asked Sabally what was going on.
"Nothing serious', he said. " I just want to show you
and Captain Cham something".
When the captain came down, Sana offered to ride with
me in his vehicle while Cham joined Haidara.
As the convoy was about to Leave State House, Dr.
Malick Njie arrived to give his report about the job
he had been doing in the hospitals and clinics. Anyway
he was asked to join us in one of the vehicles behind'
Driving through Independence Drive in a state of
deafening silence in the vehicle I soon noticed
something that further bothered me. Ahead of us I
noticed an overloaded pickup vehicle with soldiers
armed to the teeth. It was trouble staring at me
directly in the face.
For a moment I thought we were going to Yundum until
the convoy branched off to Mile Two Prisons. The
vehicles came to a screeching stop at the center of
the yard, by the admin office. Within seconds we were
surrounded by soldiers pointing their rifles at us as
Sabally said the words: "SIR, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST".
"For what?" I asked.
"You are just under arrest sir"; he repeated the same
words.
I turned around and saw that we were four in number:
Major Malick Njie, Captain Cham, ASP Aboubacarr Jeng
(police officer who was helping in the documentation
of our activities since day two of the coup) and
myself.
I told Sabally to inform my family about the arrest
and detention. He would not even talk back. He simply
waved at us with his weapon to move into the prison
enclosure-death row to be more precise.
It was unimaginable but more reasonable than trying
anything foolish just be shot by that imbecile for
nothing.
As for the prison officers who received and searched
us, they took everything they considered illegal to
keep in the cells; they behaved as if we were serial
killers already sentenced to die within few hours.
They took everything from me from my wristwatch to my
belt and even my shoelaces.
Then they put us in cell rooms about nine feet long
and five feet wide. It had one wooden bed placed on
concrete slabs with one dirty blanket spread on it.
There was a small window opening to the outside at the
upper part of the wall. Call it the superhighway for
the all the mosquitoes in that swampy area. Not a
single documentation of our names, the time we came in
or why we were there was done. There were no
cautionary statements from anybody. We were just like
bunch of animals herded into a slaughterhouse.
Beside the extremely bad food served, we were for
almost two weeks not allowed to leave the cells for
anything, showering or even breathing fresh air
outside. We were locked up 24/7.
When some detainees later got sick, and Haidara whose
ministry was in charge of the prisons, was asked about
taking them to the RVH, he made this statement:
"Anyone who is sick should never be taken to any
hospital, and if he died he would happily take the
responsibility of burying that person.".
Well what goes around comes around. When he got sick
after being tortured for two weeks, the doctors begged
Singhateh to let him be evacuated to the RVH but the
then Vice-Chairman vetoed it without sympathy or
remorse. He died that same week.
It was the darkest period in the political history of
the Gambia and I hope and pray that the appearance of
these monsters would be the last ever seen in the
Gambia.
You see, in the GNA, we were simply ordinary Gambians.
We had had our differences, argued among ourselves and
sometimes even threatened each other. But that was all
about it. We did not for once imagine that smiling
colleagues in our midst were capable of even
considering hurting us let alone murdering us in cold
blood. Some Gambians attribute great importance to
peoples' names. So the name Haidara was after all very
much respected and often honored as originating from
good Muslims background ( the Sheriffs) who would
rather save lives than waste them for no good reasons.
Perhaps that was the reason why God did not wait for
too long to stop this man whose actions were ungodly
and too inhuman for the Gambia.
As for Sana, his crazy life has though crumbled;
nonetheless I still think we are yet to see this
devil's last deplorable end.
I still wonder what would have happened if I had spent
the night of the 26th of July at State House and how I
would have reacted to Singhateh if he had treated me
in the manner he rudely treated Captain Cham. I was
throughout with the impression that Edward was a nice
simple gentleman, respectable and could never consider
hurting any person much more his fellow officers in
the GNA. He was so likable that I believe I was among
those who gave him the name high speed.
Anyway after our arrest and detention 2Lt Alagie
Kanteh was briefly appointed spokesman of the council.
Few weeks after his appointment, he was arrested. He
was the first person who warned us in the jail about
Singhateh's serious intention to have all detainees
executed. According to Kanteh, since Singhateh visited
Sierra Leone where he had a special meeting with
Captain Valentine Strasser, he had been going around
with the strong commitment that the best solution to
our cases was to put us before a firing squad and kill
us all.
With all that, some of us were still doubtful about
the ability of such a nice-looking person to even
think of that evil thought.
But on the 6th of September 1994 at about 2:00 a.m.
the entire AFPRC members paid us a horrible visit at
the prisons; it as the day we saw Singhateh's true
colors.
I will deal with that next time.
However thank god that we all survived the evil
intentions of those devils. After all if we were
executed some Gambians may have pretty well tried to
justify it in every way.


Ebou Colly.



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