Mr. Sallah,

Thanks for this long piece. It makes interesting reading. The only problem
is, you've only dealt with the immediate aftermath of the coup so far. I
hope your future correspondence will throw more light on the latter part of
the transition period.

Regarding this period (D-Day to the latter part of '94,) what you've said so
far is really a No-brainer! Lt. Yaya Jammeh and his friends had planned a
coup for weeks. It was no secret in the army. The Nigerian commanders knew
it. So did the NIA. It's a measure of Jawara's unpopularity that the coup
succeeded. It could have been stopped weeks before it happened. As a matter
of fact, Lt. Sana Sabally who was known within the army as a Ring leader of
the planned coup, was briefly detained by the Nigerian commanders and
questioned. So were several small players including a cousin of mine. This
was shortly before the coup. But the coup makers won't be deterred. They
struck as soon as Jawara returned from overseas. After the coup, Yaya and
his people did what every coup-maker does: round up members of the former
govt, ban this, ban that, intimidate here, brutalize there. They didn't need
cues from anyone to do any of these.

So, if you're trying to prove how stupid or "hypocritical" I am, I'm not
sure you're doing a good job so far, b/c you're telling me what anybody w/ a
modicum of common sense knows: Yaya planned his coup w/o Halifa Sallah; he
had his own designs on how to trick the various political players to get a
measure of acceptance or at least a breathing space. He declared all types
of decrees to achieve that goal. No one had to tell him that. So, there's no
news here! My contention has to do with the time when Yaya began to feel
comfortable enough in State House, and started generating the "I've no
intention of leaving any time soon vibes."

But looking at the period you've focused on so far, you seem to be
suggesting that the PPP leaders (who I've never been able to stand -quite
frankly,) should have put up a fight -even if by publicly defying Yaya. Now,
there's no love lost between myself and that group, but where is the realism
in that. First, they get thrown out by the gun, and get hauled off to jail,
but you're wondering why they did not "stand up for the constitution?"
Aren't we taking things literally here? If the PPP people had a loyal army,
then they could try something like that. But "standing for the constitution"
empty-handed against people with absolute power is not only quixotic, it's
absolutely lunacy! Dead people don't make very good Cheer Leaders Mr Sallah!

Regarding Jawara, Bakary Darbo and Saihou Sabally, I'm not a fan of any of
these men, but my understanding from Jawara's interview is that he was led
to believe that getting on the US naval vessel was a tactical retreat.
Something of a strategy planning session. He has since indicated that things
would have been different if he knew the Americans weren't going to help
either directly, or by asking Abdu Joof. I can't speak for any of these
people, but that's what I've gathered from Jawara's numerous interviews on
the subject. Maybe some one out there can take up the challenge. But, in
fairness to Jawara, he did not just abandon the country like you seem to be
suggesting. Bakary Darbo deluded himself into thinking that he could talk
the Jammeh camp into handing back power. We all know how that went.

However, you're yet to deal with your own about-face regarding the coup:
first you called it unconstitutional and published articles challenging it's
legality, but later you acquiesced to the new chiefs by declaring that the
coup's legality/illegality doesn't matter b/c the PPP was gone for good. But
the fact that you stopped publishing your newspaper at all in '94 signifies
your tacit submission to the realities of the day. Clearly you would have
endangered your life by defying the APRC govt at the time if you were to
publish. So, you obeyed the order for you to desist from publishing, (just
like the other politicians obeyed the order to desist from politicking.)And
isn't it true that you continued to publish only because you agreed to
change the legal terms and conditions concerning your publication? Foroyaa
had to change from a political Organ to a regular newspaper for all intents
and purposes. Isn't this true?

Why am I pointing this out? I have no love for anything PPP. To be quite
honest, I literally hated the party at one point. So, I'm at pains having to
"defend" or say anything that gives comfort to that group of people after
what they've done/not done to/for our country. But in truth, the universal
principle of self-preservation does apply to the PPP leadership. They're
also human. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander, they say. The
PPP leaders were not putting on comics (while in detention,) to symbolize
how "low" they'll grovel, they were merely trying to make the most of what
was a terrible situation. These were men who have been told for decades that
they could do no wrong. They had the best the Gambia had to offer. All that
was turned upside-down one morning. What were they supposed to do? Cry?
Mostly, self-deprecating humor is a defense mechanism, not a sign of how
"low" someone is. I do not like many of those men, but I do not blame them
for behaving the way they did in those trying times either. You'd rather
impersonate a chief/Alkalo/Imam in prison than be a regular jail bird. Some
people try to maintain what little dignity they have, any how they can.

But, if you don't take anything from what I've tried to say here, take this
much: you've wrote this entire piece focussing on what you did as oppose to
what everybody else did in the immediate aftermath of the coup just to prove
my "hypocrisy," when much of what you've said is really no news. Jawara,
Darbo, and Sabally skipped town, cabinet members & some Perm Sects gave
themselves up, Tens of thousands of Gambians attended Yaya Jammeh's rallies,
Yaya was upset at PDOIS, PDOIS was villified, you were grudgingly tolerated
etc, etc. In short, only PDOIS had put up a fight according to what I gather
from your piece. Everyone else either took cover or joined the party.

The fact is OJ, MC Cham, the NCP MP from Foni (Sanyang?), and one from
Badibu (Samusa,) all openly challenged the Jammeh govt in 94/95. I haven't
seen any mention of that. The Bar association president - Sura, did make
comments not exactly flattering of the AFPRC govt. Waa Juwara (and indeed
many Gambians) were thrown in jail for defying the AFPRC -especially after
it became clear to many Gambians that they had no intention of leaving. I
don't see any of these in your piece. And these were people, who unlike you,
do not have a newspaper working for them. I hope in your replies to come,
you'll give more credit to people outside PDOIS who raise their voice in
protest. And I further hope the PPP, NCP, GDP, and other political players
at the time will come forward and tell their side of the story b/c we are
yet to hear that. So far, it has been a one-sided story so far, and we're
yet to get the full picture. No one can blame PDOIS for that, and I'm not.
But, someday, we'll get the full picture.

I await a more thorough insight into the transition period -when the dust
settled. Because, frankly, I'm no wiser now than I was before going through
this reply. Maybe it's my stupudity. But I'm sure you'll teach me.

Peace.

Saul.




>From: foroyaa <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Response to 'fess up Halifa: Rejoinder to Hamjatta's Reply'
>Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 16:38:07 -0000
>
>Saul,
>
>You wrote in your memorandum to Hamjatta on 27 November 1999 that
>
>+ACI-One of two things happened during the transition and up to Korro's
>death:
>either Halifa Sallah has been duped/seduced by the AFPRC (which is very
>unlikely,) or he has been the cunning manipulator who has been using his
>superior intelligence to pursue less than honorable ulterior motives (just
>like Robert McNamara did with Lyndon Johnson here in the 60s.) Any way you
>look at it, it doesn't look good for Halifa. It is very disturbing b/c here
>is a very highly intelligent person, preying on a group of people, who at
>best are only of average intelligence. Considering that no one in the
>defunct AFPRC had the education, intelligence, or foresight to be running
>anything, the Council members were taking their cues from resident
>intellectuals like Halifa. Their strategy was basically putting out daily
>+ACI-feelers+ACI- trying to gauge the
>direction of public sentiment through the public's reaction to stories in
>the media.+ACI-
>
>You accused me of being a cunning manipulator who utilised what you termed
>as 'superior intelligence' to enable the AFPRC to entrench themselves. I
>did
>not believe that a human being can have such a shallow way of thinking.
>
>Mature thinking must be rooted in realism. Mature analysis must spring from
>systematic gathering of facts and their synthesis. What facts have you
>gathered? What synthesis have you made to be able to come to the conclusion
>that you did. Here, you have presented no facts+ADs- you simply want people
>to
>accept your conclusions without giving any facts. It is, therefore,
>becoming
>clear that you are the one who has a knack for believing the most absurd
>conceptions. Let me now bring facts to expose the emptiness of your
>conceptions. This will show what the AFPRC did to entrench itself.
>
>The first announcement made by the AFPRC was the suspension of  the
>constitution, the dissolution of the House of Representatives, the banning
>of political parties and the declaration of a state of emergency. You want
>to tell me that these people did not know what they wanted? That
>Halifa-------------------------------

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