Mr Ebou Colly

Its always a pleasure to read your postings on " Coup
in the Gambia". In fact I was looking forward to your
postings on what happened on the 6th September 1994
but one could understand your change of circumstances;
your fellow colleague has just lost his brother in a
tragic incident. However, allow me if I alert your
attention to a typographical error on your last
posting

You wrote

"Captain Johnson's outstanding career began to shine
in the GNA when in 1996 in a class of robust young
officers undergoing officer training course in Fort
Benning, USA...."

Am I right to suggest that you mistakenly stated 1996
rather than 1986?


Just a thought.

Sanusi


>                                              COUP IN
> GAMBIA NINE
> To begin with I cannot but use a good part of this
> week's narrative by extending my heart-felt
> condolence
> to Captain James Johnson and family for the tragic
> death of Simon Johnson in Atlanta a couple of weeks
> ago. The sadness that struck me when I heard about
> the
> senseless killing of such a fine young man brought
> me
> back horrifying memories of the global nightmare
> that
> has hit this god-fearing family in the past seven
> years. For a fitting tribute to this special brother
> Simon, I would tell the sad story of Captain James
> Johnson, a brilliant soldier whose life was almost
> shattered to pieces from the very moment Yaya and
> his
> gang of criminals hijacked our country in 1994. So
> my
> readers have to bear with me with the understanding
> that only the soldiers could tell their own stories.
> And that Captain Johnson's story deserved to be
> documented and heard forever.
> Capt. Johnson's outstanding military career began to
> shine in the GNA when in 1996 in a class of robust
> young officers undergoing officer training course in
> Fort Benning, USA, the American training faculty
> singled him out as the best international student in
> that class. It was an achievement of high
> prestigious
> value bestowed to few foreign students in a school
> the
> Americans proudly designated "Home Of The Infantry".
> An infantry officer of Capt. Johnson's personality,
> both in ability and ethics, was the right stuff all
> commanders wished to build in a reliable combatant.
> .
> He was the kind of person anyone would want to
> associate with when it came to real military duties.
> Put him on the toughest terrain and give him orders
> to
> perform and his ingenuity and endurance would stun
> you. Hand him over any kind of modern assault weapon
> and point to him a target to shoot at, and he would
> hit it with a bull's eye. Put him on a running track
> and you would end up wondering whether the man was a
> machine or robot. Yet he was extremely discipline
> and
> had great respect for everybody, his peers, seniors
> and juniors all alike. His love for his friends and
> family added a considerable element of humanity in
> his
> simple world. And stay close to Capt. Johnson for a
> short moment and soon you would hear him sharing one
> or two of the numerous experiences he had shared
> with
> his loving wife Cicilia or brother Simon. That was
> how
> we all come to know about Simon in one way or the
> other. If we did not meet him physically, by Capt.
> Johnson's good words about this brother, Simon was
> virtually part of all of us in the GNA.
> Anyway when the captain returned from training in
> the
> USA, further decorated with the medal of an
> outstanding parachutist who could jump from all
> kinds
> of troop-deploying-military planes, the Gambia Army
> rightly put him in charge of the overall local
> training of every new soldier. However before long
> the
> BATT officers handpicked him out of the pool of
> officers and gave him another job when the
> president's
> office demanded, on an urgent request, to have a
> good
> officer sent to the State House as ADC to Sir Dawda.
> There again, Captain Johnson for two years served
> the
> office of the president in a manner that boosted the
> image of the GNA officer corps in both his domestic
> and foreign performance.
> In 1990, the very year he completed his ADC tour of
> duty, the captain got orders to command "C" company
> that was first sent to Liberia as part of the ECOMOG
> peacekeeping force. He came back home with genuine
> ECOMOG medals earned in the heated center of the
> Liberian holocaust. This Captain did not shamelessly
> steal a medal and pin it on himself without meriting
> it. He never tried to deceive anyone with
> pseudo-gallantry image when in reality he was not.
> No,
> Capt. Johnson was the true believer and a genuine
> action-oriented officer whose actions merited every
> award thinkable for a dedicated, honest and hard
> working officer.
> Upon his return from ECOMOG, he was again appointed
> commandant of the GNA training school. But
> unfortunately for him in 1992, while traveling from
> Farafenni Barracks to Banjul, the jeep he was
> driving
> got a road accident. It was a rather fatal accident
> that took the life of another very good young
> officer
> Lieutenant Darbo Jarju of Kartong Village. Captain
> Johnson and Lieutenant K. Jaye sustained severe
> injuries that the doctors in The Gambia lacked the
> facilities to treat them. They were thus referred to
> more competent surgions in the United Kingdom. As
> for
> Lt. Jaye, his injuries had to eventually force him
> to
> opt for early medical retirement from military
> service. He was later re-deployed to the civil
> sector.
> As for Captain Johnson, despite the marked reduction
> of his performance level by his injuries, he chose
> to
> stay in the military profession he had loved so
> dearly. But medical advice put him on relatively
> light
> duties that basically made him an administrator. He
> was again like a genius in that area performing his
> duties efficiently and diligently. It was however
> said
> that on a follow-up treatment to London scheduled to
> have taken place by September 1994, the chances were
> there for him to regain the best part of the skills
> he
> had lost as a result of his injuries.
> Then came July 22nd, the day of calamity the robbers
> surfaced. The captain was on duty at Yundum that
> day.
> However, upon evaluating the situation at the very
> beginning and realizing that the Nigerians who were
> suppose to take charge had disappeared, he quietly
> walked out of the camp and went home to his family.
> Physically, his condition would not have allowed him
> to do anything otherwise or be caught up in a
> disruptive atmosphere that would simply render him a
> victim of nothing logical. And knowing the
> no-nonsense
> person he was, there was no way a young lieutenant
> would have tried to force him into taking any part
> in
> that mutiny.
> However, when the tension subsided, Captain Johnson
> went back to Yundum. He was immediately arrested and
> taken to Mile Two, accused of treasonable actions.
> On
> what, nobody could come up with a case. Even Fafa
> Mbye
> who was at the time arming the devils with all kinds
> of vindictive decrees could not fabricate a case
> against the innocent captain.
> In mile two however, nobody gave a consideration to
> the medical condition of the gentleman. Therefore
> within a short time, his condition drastically
> worsened. The hard wood we were all forced to sleep
> on
> as beds mainly contributed the problem. He was
> denied
> his recovery medicines. Hence, within few months,
> the
> captain's nervous system became badly affected,
> first
> immobilizing one of his legs, then the other.
> Doctors
> from the International Red Cross visited him in the
> prisons and left a strong recommendation to the
> AFPRC
> government that the captain must be evacuated to a
> hospital or face the possibility of suffering
> irreparable or permanent injuries to his body. By
> then
> Sabally and Haidara's orders forbidding sick
> detainees
> from being evacuated to a hospital to see a
> physician
> outside the prison was in full effect. And even
> after
> their welcomed detention on the 27th January the
> order
> remained the same.
> It was like those horror stories where an evil
> monster
> is hell bent on destroying anything that was deemed
> human and good.  It was pathetic to see Captain
> Johnson being dragged from his tiny concrete hole in
> that dungeon for him to have a simple shower in the
> morning. He was in pain that was totally
> heartbreaking. His legs were limp and powerless. Yet
> we could not do anything but sympathize and share
> the
> bitterness.
> At one time his condition got so bad that the prison
> officials had no choice but to take him to the RVH
> for
> doctors to look at the helpless man. I think it was
>
=== message truncated ===

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