Ebou Colley,

If what I wrote, in any way, insinuated that your naration may not be true,
I sincerely extend my apologies. For your information, soon after this
incident of November 11th happened, I travelled to namibia. There I was for
six weeks. When I came back, some people intimated some of what you narated,
but most of these versions I could verify as they were all based on rumours.
Nobody provided any reliable references evidence.

Secondly, when I wrote "Why has Ebou Colly's version surfaced almost 6 years
later? Could any of you have imagined that the picture he painted about this
fateful day and the following day could have really taken place in the
Gambia of all places?"

It was not to doubt your version of what happened. I am sure you'll agree
with me that, for anybody's story to be believable the listener must be
convinced of the narator's sincerity. Your opposition to the regime is quite
understandable to me. Now if I am reading this version of events of that
fateful day from a former victim, who is vehemently opposed to the regime
about 6 months before the anticipated elections, then I am sure I may have
my doubts about your objectivity especially if I profess my support of this
regime.

Thirdly, the last sentence from the above plus another I have reproduced a
few times earlier concerning your observation of our then field force, was
to highlight the linkage between who gave the order to shoot and who shot.
to clarify this please allow me to narate an incident I witnessed in a navy
pub in Devonport, Plymouth in the 80s. Around that time, an American officer
was being desciplined for insurbordination. His crime, it was alleged, was
not to have properly saluted 5 star General Kolimber of the central African
rebublic. While some marine officers were discussing this incident, one of
them, a black officer, said the following:

Some of these African officers are a disgrace to our profession. How can
this man, the president of a small landlocked country promote himself to the
rank of a 5 star general when the Nato supreme commander at the time was
only a 3 star general. The conversation went on for a little while when a
white officer said that sandhurst has lost some of its credibility as the
finest institution for training officers. He posited that in the recent
past, Sandhurst has trained some of the worst despots around the world. He
said that prior to the 50s, only aristrocrats were trained there as
officers. He went on to say that officers of the British army of the past
were selected and trained at Sandhurst by breed. He said officers come by
breed and that commoners don't make good officers.

I was reminded of this, when you wrote this Of Good Officers:

"They are generally well cultured, Properly educated and tested to meet the
set standards; they have self-esteem and definitely understand that the
country equally belong to them in the very way it belongs to any president".

and this of the then Field Force:

"None of these virtues prevailed in the Field Force where the service men
were literally social outcasts in terms of origin, education, social status,
family background and self-esteem.. So instead of having fine warriors
prepared to lay their lives for the defense of their nation, we ended up
grooming angry jealous armed men full of hate and destructive tendencies
ready to follow any deviant or criminal into a path of national
destruction".

To me, I was just cautioning on the notion that Yahya Jammeh is solely
responsible of the massaccre of our kids those fateful April 10th and 11th
days. To me, holding him solely responsible is like blaming the fever for
the death of someone who dies of malaria. My idea of a just society, like I
have said before, is based on the notion that those who pass obnoxious laws,
those who enforce those laws as well as the people who refused to condemn
such laws are equally responsible when those laws cause any harm to the
people.

My objective of coming to this forum and joining it, is to highlight as much
as I can, some misgivings I have about what is considered wrong in our
society. In that endeavour, there is no one here who can honestly say that I
did not condemn evil when it is told. If my believe that for The Gambian
people, reknown for our peaceful co-existence, generosity and kindness
towards each other, is to have a system of government that befits us, then
there is need to expose all the evil and the good to see the bigger picture.
One of Senegal's famous singers says, Assan Mboube has this to say about a
good organization/ society

"Mbotai lucie gaine, moi njeat gu jupp and mbollo mu gorre". In other words,
what is best in an organization/society is to have a straight leader and an
honest following. For this reason, it is important that we accept our
mistakes and accord to others what is due to them. Then and only then, can
we boast of a Gambia that we truel deserve.

To conclude my response to your reception of my commentary of part 3 of
coupe in the Gambia by stating as follows:

1. I did not mean to discredit your version of events but was just raising
questions that needed clarification on my part. If however, that is what it
implied, I once again offer my unreserved appology.

2. I again wanted to highlight the apparent blinkered view some of us have
of certain issues i.e our refusal to have a proper look at the desease but
instead focusing on the symtoms only.

3. The stubborn refusal by some to accept that we have some inherently
unstable and potentially very wicked people in our midst.

Have a good day and bye 4Now, KB Jobe.

>----Original Message Follows----
>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 FOUR
>Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 14:56:21 -0700
>
>                                            COUP IN
>GAMBIA FOUR
>
>I want to briefly look at Kebba Jobe's statement on my
>last piece before proceeding to the next segment of my
>story. Kebba wrote:
>"On the alleged cold-blooded murder of some members of
>our security forces,
>The only tangible explanations given so far have been
>the official version
>and Ebou Colly's recent report. Now the question is
>which version is true?
>Why has Ebou Colly's version surfacing almost 6 years
>later? Could any of
>you have imagined that the picture he painted about
>this fateful day and
>the following day could have really taken place in the
>Gambia of all places?"
>Actually it seemed as if Dampha took most of the words
>I had in mind for Jobe's statement directly from my
>mouth. So I thank you Mr. Dampha very much for telling
>Jobe the facts. Without doubt I was going to ask Jobe
>where he was during that massacre to have missed the
>fact that several family members of the affected
>victims came forward to deny his government's
>"tangible explanation" that the soldiers were killed

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