COLLY:

I couldn't agree more. Gambia had had enough of BOKASSA JEMUS JAMMEH, the
second most brutal and cruelest President in the history of our continent;
his mental midget is only comparable to that of a Mosquito and FODAY SANKO
of Sierra Leone. A man whose hands are stained with the blood of our
children and loved ones is the same man who pretends to be the most pious
muslim in the entire Muslim World. Similarly, he claims to have mastered and
become conversant with fundamental principles of Islam, whiles we have a
Wolf in a sheep's clothing stinging in his so-called turban, and under that
turban, the vermin wears an under-shirt pinned with all kinds of jujus and
sheep-horn filled with rotten leaves and rapped in solid red rags, which he
strongly believes will protect him from evil and save his Presidency. Where
then is the moron's faith in Islam, which he persistently claims to be a
disciple of. This is the man who always carry a HUGE FOREST CUTLASS and
prolong BEADS as a sign of his piousness and extremism. Where ever he goes,
he is seen counting the beads, may be it is his Islamic calculator, period.
A man who used to eat SERENG-SERENG as his traditional staple food, now
eating LAMB CHOPS/CHICKEN turned him into the World's most "BONVIVANT" of
the Century at the expense of innocent blood, and  BOODLING of tax payer
dollars. This is the same man who ordered the brutal slaughtering of KORO
CEESAY, FODAY MAKALO and all those 60 decent people of the Armed forces who
were mercilessly ditched in Latrines. KARAMBA's piece on ZAINAB's trip has
clearly depicted the mind set of the moron of all morons. Zainab's travel
budget a lone in one year outweighed the entire travel budget of all
government officials traveling on official missions in one year. The
US$26,000,000 expended on Zainab's pleasure trip alone could have been well
spent on other important issues the country has been facing, such as
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS for Hospitals, SCHOLARSHIPS for Students stranded in
Sudan and other countries' Universities in the region, also on providing
PROVIDING MEDICAL CARE for those Students who suffered serious and life
threatening illness, and yet could not afford to pay for their medical
bills. It was because of lack of adequate care and treatment that the
Egyptian government returned those Students sent there for treatment. The
Moron has no excuse whatsoever, for lavishing US$26,000,000 just under a
year on sheer Hotel Bills, Gas for the private Jet, tips, Servants wages,
Nail polishes, and other stupid cosmetic expenses is absolutely unheard of.
Whiles Vermin Jammeh's PERSONAL SWISS BANK ACCOUNT and ZAINAB's PRIVATE
ACCOUNT in Morocco are being inflated day by day, hour by hour, minute by
minute and second by second, our country's meager foreign exchange balance
is absolutely dwindling at an unprecedented proportion. My wholly goodness,
what a mental midget and a punk we are dealing with here?

Colly, you are right; not only did the Army lost its innocence, but so did
the entire country. Gambia, which used to be firm friends with the
International Community, is now isolated. The imbecile has done huge damage
to our beloved country up to a point that the country has lost her sense of
direction and purpose. Hard working citizens who should have been
collectively working together with zeal, honesty and trust, have now
distanced themselves from each other; and consequently, the country is now
seriously divided on tribal lines. NO MORE RECOGNITION OF THE OTHERNESS,
period. Gambia is the only country in the World where CHRISTIANS, even
CATHOLICS often inter-marry with MUSLIMS and other TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS,
without causing bitter division and turmoil. That is what sense of love,
cooperation, care, brotherly love and human decency are all about, period.
But, unfortunately, Moron Jammeh has cultivated into the minds of the
average Gambian that tribe do matter at every level of our society. Some of
our erratic tribes men have been echoing the Theme of JOLA REVOLUTION, a
sheer discriminatory phrase which makes some of these psychopaths to visit
the bath-room a million times, thinking that the table has been over-turned,
period. His blatant nepotism and appointment of only majority of our own
tribes men into top official jobs underscores the point I am making. Every
blessed day that Jammeh kills or detains innocent people, turns of thousands
of other patriotic citizens are waiting to step in the shoes of those killed
and detained without trail, and ready to risk their lives. What the imbecile
fails to comprehend is that he may kill or make people to perish unnoticed,
but he cannot kill the spirit of The Gambian People. As he kills one or make
one to perish, a NEW BABY will be burn to replace them. What this means is
that Moron Jammeh cannot wipe out the entire MANDINGOES and JOLLOFS or FULAS
from the face of The Gambian Soil, period. Therefore, I AM STRICTLY SENDING
HIM a message: LIKE WE THE JOLAS, THE JOLLOFS, FULAS AND MANDINGOES ARE MORE
THAN SAND ON THE SEA SHORE, THEY ARE MORE THAN NUMBERS. Therefore, a mere
intimidation, torture, arbitrary arrests without trail, kidnapping and
killings will never ever scared these tribes from striving to free their God
given country.

ANSUMANA.

>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 ELEVEN
>Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 20:34:41 -0700
>
>COUP IN THE GAMBIA ELEVEN
>My program for this week and next is so tight that I
>almost cancelled this posting. But on a second
>thought, and especially not to disappoint my readers I
>decided to come up with a short one.
>  However there are some comments I like to make on two
>special issues; i.e., the opposition's great boost to
>finally boot the Yaya dictatorship out of power in
>October, in the wake of the death of Decree 89 and the
>role the armed forces is expected to play in the
>campaign, voting and final declaration of the end of
>the APRC government.
>To start with there is no doubt in my mind that the
>repealing of the decree added more firepower to the
>arsenals of the opposition force. With or without the
>decree, I was positive that the Gambia had had enough
>with "Yaya Bokassa Jammeh" the second dictator in the
>history of modern African politics to order the
>massacre of armless school children on ordinary
>demonstration. That crime alone, forgetting all the
>other heinous crimes committed by Yaya during his
>reign of terror is enough to see him gone for good.
>And I know for sure that the Gambian people as a
>result would not allow him to remain another minute
>that day in October when the people's votes show it
>clear and indisputable to the whole world.
>What the Gambian electorate should brace up for is the
>possible futile resistance Yaya would attempt to put
>up to stay in power by force. General Guai of Ivory
>Coast tried it; Milosovic also tried it; but as
>typical of dictators in their last moments, they
>always end up being victims of the very forces they
>built to protect them. For instance, in the cases of
>Ivory Coast and Yugoslavia, the tyrants became wimps
>when the security forces realized that the future of
>the nation far outweighed the interest of one person
>whose record as their leader merely brought them
>embarrassment, horror and death. So they turned the
>cannons on their master and stood by the popular
>voices of the people.
>To think that Yaya abrogated this decree out of
>logical analysis and politically-fair conclusion, and
>that he deserved to be commended for it is at best a
>seriously misplaced judgement. Yaya's decision on this
>one came out of a no-other-choice option. Anything
>otherwise would have pitted him against the wrath of
>the Gambian opposition forces and the international
>community at large. He was aware of the intolerance of
>everybody towards his intransigence on this decree. He
>had "bilahi and walahi" the world on numerous public
>forums swearing never to compromise the decree or
>allow the banned politicians to participate actively
>again. He had also threatened them with more verbal
>terror, with his notorious six-feet-deep warning. But
>when he realized that the likes of Mr. Omar Jallow (
>O.J.) were no longer intimidated by his childish
>threat, coupled with the fact that the international
>community was no longer prepared to accept his
>stonewalling attitude in this issue, the dictator
>bowed down in fear. Yes, it was nothing but fear that
>drove him to such a decision. For that reason I
>believe all commendations should be saved for the
>international-pressure forces and those dynamic
>opposing elements that kept up the heat on Yaya to the
>end.
>O.J. was awesome in this battle for reasons genuinely
>justifiable. Despite his total innocence of any given
>crime other than being a former minister in the former
>PPP government-if that was a crime at all- like Buba
>Baldeh was, O. J. on numerous occasions was arrested,
>tortured, incarcerated and humiliated in every way
>imaginable. But like Mr. Lamin Waa Juwara, every ill
>treatment they received from the hands of the bandits
>merely galvanized their fortitude and determination to
>fight harder for their holy course. These are the men
>who deserve the special commendation. For Yaya, he was
>like a wanted psychopath on an evasive trail until
>cornered at a dead end and given an ultimatum to
>either surrendering or faced the risk of being smoked
>out with lethal gas (a classic fate of a fat "dirmo"
>with a relentless hunter). The guy therefore should at
>most be laughed at and classified as nothing but the
>coward he is.
>It was also funny to learn that the six-feet-deep
>threat was repeated at the time of his unhappy
>abrogation statement to those opposition elements
>affected. Well, that was a good tactic to reassure his
>blind followers and give them the hope that he was
>still the same tough idol they should continue to
>worship. That was the child in him entertaining his
>hopeless ego.
>As I said earlier, I was left with no doubt that, come
>October, the Gambians will get rid of Yaya even with
>Decree 89 in place; but now that the moron has been
>forced to abrogate it, I would say that the die is
>finally cast. Yaya has put the last nail on his
>coffin.
>My warning to him now is to be mindful of his last
>days. They are as dangerous as things were in the
>beginning when treachery, betrayal and individual
>interest characterized the actions of those very close
>to him. It would be a costly mistake if he tries to
>use the armed forces against the popular desire of the
>Gambian people. So the easier he tries to leave the
>scene with minimal trouble the better for him and of
>course for those blindly loyal to him who could be
>dragged along with him to the abyss of doom.
>Come October, the majority of the soldiers will not be
>part of any ill-conceived plan to force the APRC
>government onto the Gambian people. It is now evident
>to most of them that Yaya's administration is for the
>benefit of few but not the majority of them. Those few
>ones would however try few tricks that they would live
>to regret in the end. In the end, those soldiers with
>the positive thought of taking the Gambia forward
>would prevail.
>As for those of you who think that Yaya is a
>dependable ally, just stop for a moment and reflect on
>those who had once committed their lives to protecting
>him with blind zealotry, and the way he rewarded them
>in the end. Take for instance the case of the late
>Almamo Manneh who used to say that for anyone had
>intended to hurt Yaya that person must step over his
>dead body first before reaching "Boss". Remember the
>special and close relationship that had existed
>between Landing Sanneh and Yaya. They were like blood
>brothers. Sanneh would have done anything to keep Yaya
>in power. Now Sanneh is facing charges of treason in a
>kangaroo court martial while Almamo was sent six-foot
>deep. Consider the number of soldiers murdered under
>Yaya's rule without serious evidence to motivate the
>killing. If these men had been a little more cautious
>in their actions to satisfy his whims, perhaps Yaya
>would have also been careful in the manner he
>eliminated them. But because he had given them bad
>names by manipulating them into committing all kinds
>of political and social crimes, he relied on their
>unpopularity and delivered them his killer blows
>When Yaya ordered the shooting of the school children
>last year, he came back from Cuba pretending not to
>know how it happened. When Koro Ceesay was murdered in
>1995, Yaya as usual, tried to give the impression to
>the Ceesay family that he had had nothing to do with
>it.
>When most of your colleagues were cold-bloodedly
>executed in November 11th 1994 on his orders and
>dumped latrines pits, Yaya later claimed innocent of
>that crime. In most of the crimes committed under
>Yaya's directive, it had always been the ordinary
>soldier who had been blamed for them.
>In October, however all crimes committed by Yaya would
>be brought to the open, and there would be competent
>judges to look at each case one by one.
>Take it from me. The forces that have now been
>assembled to get rid of Yaya this time could destroy
>his equals ten times and more. The need to dismantle
>the fabric of the APRC is of both national and
>international concern now. It will therefore be done
>either from the inside or outside. But October would
>not miss. You could bet on that statement.
>Going back to my usual narrative of the events of the
>July 1994 coup, I remember the end of my last piece on
>the torturous night of that September night. It was
>one of the most frightening incidents we experienced
>in jail. Anyway after the police C.I.D. took our
>statements for possible submission to the reviewing
>board, we became fairly faithful that there would be
>something done about our detention situation after
>all.
>At the end of September, for reasons we really could
>not understand, word came from the army headquarters
>letting us know that our monthly salaries were still
>being paid, and that we could withdraw the money
>anytime we wanted it. How that decision was made was
>anybody's guess. It was a life-saving gesture with a
>positive boost to our images in the eyes of the prison
>authorities that showed total dismay over the matter.
>They could not understand the logic in our cases
>anymore. As a matter of fact, a good number of them
>began to genuinely sympathize with us. They started
>talking to us about their personal problems laden with
>financial burden and career disorientation. As prison
>guards, most of them thought they were harder workers
>than the police who earned more than they did; yet
>they had greater preference to military career than
>any security work available in the country.
>So with money in our hands we began to buy favors from
>them. With D5.00, we could keep forks and knives to
>eat with instead of the only acceptable bare hands.
>For D25.00 we could write letters to our family
>members which they would deliver, bring back replies
>and smuggle in the daily newspapers. With D2.50, they
>would be willing to take any letters to the post
>office and mail them to any part of the world without
>asking a question, even if it was boldly addressed to
>the BBC, Focus on Africa or the editor of the Daily
>Observer. From that time on up to the time I was set
>free in 1995, we kept constantly writing to every news
>media we thought could help by making our helpless
>position known to the world. Ebou Colly was our pen
>name. We wrote some foreign embassies in The Gambia
>asking for their help.  Interestingly, some time
>later, the American Ambassador Andrew Winters secured
>a permit with his aid, Mr. Knight and paid us a visit
>in jail. By then the rules were so relaxed that we
>were allowed to read books openly without fear of
>having it confiscated and or destroyed. So the
>Americans, after their visit, sent us sufficient
>reading materials that reduced our boredom
>tremendously. Anyway they were very upset with the
>government's action to keep us where they found us
>without charges or trial. They just could not
>understand why, but they left us with encouraging
>words that the whole world was watching our cases, and
>that they had been warning the AFPRC government over
>our final fate.
>In October, we began for the first time to enjoy
>having visitors from our family members. Those who
>wanted to visit us were to get their permission from
>Sana Sabally, at his office in Banjul.
>At the end of October, the AFPRC government released
>the following officers:
>1. Captain Momodou Sonko
>2. Captain Alieu Ndure
>3. Lieutenant Sonko (former presidential guard
>commander)
>4. Second Lieutenant Alagie Kanteh
>5. Second Lieutenant Alpha Kinteh
>6. Second Lieutenant Yankuba Drammeh
>Captain Sonko and Lieutenant Sonko were retired from
>the armed forces while the rest were reinstated back
>to their jobs. None of them had to face any review
>committee or anything to determine their eligibility
>for freedom.
>Sabally was interviewed over BBC about the first
>release and he said that those remaining under
>detention could be released soon. The prison guards
>misunderstood the statement and came telling us that
>Sabally had said that we were to go home by next week
>or so. And most of us believed it. The guards became
>super friendly and started to address some of us with
>compliments like sir and boss. Anyway in most cases
>their politeness or friendliness was indirectly wired
>to the Dalasis in our pockets.
>Hopes of gaining our freedom soon kept us in a highly
>euphoric mood. We thought our release was going to be
>done in an eventful manner, most probably by the
>second week of November, exactly on Remembrance Day.
>Our hopes were short lived. In the early hours of
>November 11th, 1994, the unusual voices of men in a
>state of what sounded like serious distress woke some
>of us up. I think it was Lieutenant Gomez who called
>my attention to the voices outside. It reminded us of
>the 6th of September. But after what seemed to be a
>short but heated argument among the mysterious voices,
>they boarded a vehicle and drove away towards the
>Kombos.
>The quietness that followed plus the relief that it
>was after all nothing to do with us seemed to have
>sedated me into a very deep sleep.
>The sermon for dawn prayer that always came from the
>main yard where the common criminals lived added some
>element of assurance to my hope that things were as
>normal as ever.
>However at 8:00 a.m., the guards failed to show up for
>their routine morning duties. That included opening
>the main door to the block to check for everyone's
>presence and later let us out to have our morning
>showers and do other cleaning and washing. But that
>morning the guards arrived very late. And when they
>arrived they stayed outside talking to themselves and
>refused to talk to us.
>Soon the whispers began to circulate about the
>presence of heavily armed guards in large numbers
>mounting the four watchtowers above the prison
>facility. The guards were identified as State Guard
>personnel-Yaya's guards. It was a state of full alert
>until Sana Sabally passed with his irritating siren
>from the Kombos towards Banjul. That was around 9.30
>a.m.
>Shortly after, the guards climbed down and went back
>to duty at State House. We were finally allowed few
>minutes each to do all our cleaning , took our showers
>and returned to our cells. Nothing like going out
>under the sun to feel its heat and breathe the fresh
>air was allowed.
>There was an absolute conspiracy of silence among the
>guards about what had happened. Evidently the
>atmosphere was charged with an eerie tension full of
>doubt and fear. As financially needy as they were the
>guards soon started talking when we paid for the
>information. With D15.00, they narrated the story they
>witnessed the previous night.
>According to the guards who strongly believed that the
>soldiers had attempted an abortive coup, all of those
>arrested were brought over to the prisons and
>remanded. The late Lt. Barrow, Lt. Faal et al were all
>there. But shortly after they were locked up, the
>council members met among themselves and argued for a
>moment. Then they made a telephone call to the State
>House before asking them to get the men out again and
>hand them over. They did as they were told, and they
>left with them back from where they came. Lt. Barrow
>and Faal were killed upon their arrival at Fajara
>Barracks. Some escaped to Cassamance and the rest were
>summarily executed during the next two days. Lt. Saye
>was among the ones killed on Sunday the 13th of
>November.
>We were at first told that Captain Sonko was among
>those who took part in the abortive coup and that he
>was arrested somewhere. The information killed our
>spirits for a good whole day until a second report
>reached us that none of the released detainees from us
>was involved. As to when we were going to be set free
>again, the hope of it being soon died in our minds. We
>simply began to pray that the monsters would not one
>day get bloodthirsty and come for us again. The
>feeling that the GNA soldiers had for the first time
>slaughtered one another in such a barbaric manner gave
>us the final wake-up call about the animals we were
>dealing with. I can't remember who it was but one of
>us put it this way: "The GNA has now lost its
>innocence".
>As for Sana Sabally, that was the time he started
>showing signs of losing his mental stability up to
>when the AFPRC members decided to frame and
>incarcerate him with his most trusted comrade, the
>Late Sadibou Haidara.
>I will deal with the arrest and detention of these two
>men next time. I spent four months with them in jail.
>The torture they were subjected to was unacceptable,
>regardless of what. It definitely contributed to the
>death of Haidara.
>
>
>Ebou Colly
>
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
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