MY KEY
ARGUMENT
Hello Readers,

It is interesting to see how much importance is
attributed to my identity and not the substance of
what I am saying. Hey, I am perfectly comfortable to
be called Samsudeen Sarr (as some one posted in the
"voice-out" on 7th Feb. 2000). With all the major
roles played by that officer in the Jammeh government
he was one person not identified with any atrocity,
abuse of human right or unprofessional behavior. But
that is not the key argument neither was my incidental
mention of Yaya's passion to play tribal games when it
is to his advantage the fundamental issue .Of course I
can continue to argue that it is a practical reality
in the way he handles his accused enemies in the GNA.
And don't forget my protracted discussion over the
meaninglessness of soldiers within the civil society,
which could also be my guarantee that their problem
should never be a source of civil or ethnic conflict.
As a matter of fact I think some of you ranging from
Mr. Buharry Kassama to the other critical observers
have in candid terms made it clear that Gambians have
evolved beyond where tribalism would undermine our
common mixed heritage. Mr. Kassama even added some
thing to the effect that civilians would rather not
meddle with the soldiers' problems in fear of being
shot in the process of their interference. That should
be enough on Ebou Colly's so-called tribal agenda in
the army as being a potential cause of ethnic
explosion in the Gambia. But you may still take your
time and make a case study of it in the army and you
will be amazed by what I think some of you are trying
to sweep under the carpet.

Having said that, I further could not help wondering
how trivial issues such as missing the location of
Captain Cherno Jallow from Fajara Barracks to
Sierraleone could be blown as the doubting factor to
my statement that Yaya as a coup conspirator once
jailed him. I thought the best way to discredit that
point was to contact him in Sierraleone and tell
everybody that the officer seriously denied it. And he
was not the only name I gave there. What really
happened to the rest?  At least you could have told me
that they were in Germany therefore I was lying that
Yaya once locked them up in death row for dubious coup
conspiracy.

Some of you civilians there may not know it but every
time you attempt to justify Jammeh's brutality towards
the soldiers you seriously hurt so many of them who
are silently watching with deep emotional pain.
Believe me gentlemen we the soldiers have suffered so
badly in that so-called military government that if
the tides of history were to change its flowing
pattern and Yaya was out today, most of you would be
shocked with what is hidden below the muddy waters.
Did you ever hear about the story of Lance Corporal
Kebbeh who is today living with his family in Banjul
as a half person? This young soldier was accused of
coup conspiracy and shot at point range on his right
leg. Then he was refused proper medical attention
until the leg healed improperly leaving him with one
leg three to four inches shorter than the other one.
He spent three years in mile Two central prisons
without trial before he was released and dismissed
from the force. There was the story of corporal Jallow
as well who is currently serving a nine-year prison
sentence at Mile Two. A 9MM bullet was shot on his
thigh that almost crippled him too before he was
secretly court martial and sentenced.

These are the hard facts I want to hear Jammeh's
loyalist to explain the meaning behind them. Or just
tell me why soldiers killed in coup plots or whatever
should be rightly buried behind toilets in mass
graves? Why can't they be handed over to their
families for proper burial? Being a former soldier and
knowing that it could still happen to my colleagues
while some hard-hearted civilians out there are ever
prepared to justify it is a spine chilling terror to
me. Lance Corporal Bojang and Private Sama Jawo were
recovered from Liberia because we all felt that they
did not deserve to stay there forever being the noble
sons of the nation they were. The same burning feeling
of recovering the remains of those nice people behind
the toilets whom I knew so well is part of my master
plan to deal with the rotten system. So defend the
system but it would ever continue to be a demonic
establishment to me as a former serious professional
soldier. Don't ever think that all of us are going to
swallow the pain just like that until death disposes
us with it. Historians must document them for future
truth telling and better reconciliation. The end is
close and sacrifices must be endured for the ultimate
objective.

A lot of you really do not know the background behind
the 1994 regretable coup in the Gambia but I promise
you that when the dust finally subsides the whole
world would be well enlightened. Our struggle is
between soldiers and rebels in which the battle lines
are already drawn.


Ebou Colly
gambia-
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