Folks, Heinous and regrettable as this latest killing of our school children and future leaders maybe, let us all remember that joy, joy is better than war, war. Hence, let us adopt a more civil and democratic ("democracy" the watch word) means at our disposal to effect any change of government in Africa should we so desire. God bless The Gambia and may the departed's soul in perfect peace. OB. ----- Original Message ----- From: Prince Obrien-Coker To: [log in to unmask] Sent: 25 April 2000 14:39 PM Subject: Re: SOLDIERS OF THE GAMBIA ARMY Go get him Ebou, bloodlessly, if possible, but by any means JAMMEH MUST GO!! Prince Coker ----- Original Message ----- From: ebou colly To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 5:41 AM Subject: SOLDIERS OF THE GAMBIA ARMY SOLDIERS OF THE GAMBIA ARMY Soldiers of the Gambia Army it is indeed a reassuring feeling to learn that there are some of you who have totally regretted the killing of the innocent children you were forced to shoot by Yaya. And most of you have also realized that the despot is making all efforts to shift the blame on you. Anyway after clearing his image, he would then as usual send few bulls with a couple of thousand Dalasis to each of your camps for f you to feast on and praise him as the good leader. You will understand what I am exactly telling you. Anyway just remember that your hands have been soiled by children's blood. It is however understandable that you were inadequately equipped, under prepared, misled and misinformed that sad day. In the first place you all know how Yaya has been systematically undermining the efficiency of the GNA through a deliberate conspiracy of robbing you of the right equipment, the right talents and the proper training. And those elite vampires, freeloaders, and patronage junkies lying all over to protect their perks and benefits have only made things look uglier. The bottom line up front was that you were sent out that day to control a riot situation which none of you were ever trained or prepared to handle in your military careers. In the first place Ak47 assault rifles should not have been issued for that civil disturbance operation at all, let alone arming the security forces with them. On the other hand I can understand why they were issued, because there are nothing in your armories to equip yourselves with for the assignment. That was the first step to the disaster that later unfolded in the operation. Lets be frank to each other, the GNA does not in anyway understand the proper method of riot-controlling, neither does it have the means to do so. If we are to reflect back to the only consignment of good riot -controlling gears that the GNA ever had, I could remember in 1998, there were only about 200 gas masks donated by Libya. But like the ten T-54 tanks and the ninety-two 35mm artillery pieces from Egypt, the APCS, plus all your other good equipment meant to improve your competence technically and tactically, Yaya simply took all of them from the camps and hid them at the State House. The typical Mobutu Style of securing himself at the expense of his nation. As ignorant as Yaya is about the dynamics of heavy weapons however, he does not know that after keeping those arsenals without firing or properly aligning them for even six months they permanently lose their technical configurations, hence rendering them useless. I may as well advise him to find a junkyard and dump those tanks and artillery pieces that have never worked and would never do again. However the issue here is about you the soldiers. Yaya is indirectly pointing his fingers to you as the child killers when he was the very one who manipulated you into the operations. And unfortunately, your leaders who should have guided you on the operational principles of using minimum force under such circumstances lacked the proper education to do so. It is no secret that some of you, the ordinary soldiers are far better educated than your Chief of Staff Baboucarr Jatta and Yaya Jammeh himself. Nonetheless, they were the leaders you had depended on to guide you and of course protect your actions if they turned unfavorable as in this regrettable case. But look at them now. Yaya in particular who gave the orders by referring to the school children as "the bastards who should be dealt with without mercy", is now giving the impression to the world that if he had been in the country that day he would have prevented you, the murderers, from killing the kids. Certainly, out here, most of us very well understand that Yaya led you into this unprecedented act, quite unbecoming of good soldiers with the right leadership. For Yaya to disassociate himself from this massacre should be termed the betrayal of the millennium. In a war situation, leaders like him and Baboucarr Jatta are given hasty court martial hearings and shot like all traitors deserved. But by our judgement here, we have already found him guilty of two capital crimes. (1) He has ordered the murder of our finest sons and daughters who could have been our leaders tomorrow; plus (2) he has betrayed the security forces that acted exclusively on his orders in the slaughter. As a result, I urged you to act. This is the time to get rid of Yaya Jammeh by all the means you can apply. Of course, some of you have already registered your commitment to do it, which if successfully done, would be the most progressive and noble thing you would have done for the peace-loving Gambian people. Gambia does not deserve a person like Yaya. He has lied in your names, killed in your names, cheated and stole in your names, humiliated you and then in this latest incident, ordered the killing of our children, brothers and sisters. Yet it is apparent that dictators like him would foolishly refuse to accede to popular demand for them to step down and give chance to genuine democracy to the point of their own perils and to the extent of even destroying the whole country. Anyway before this retarded imbecile destroys the nation you the soldiers must take the initiative. The removal of Yaya from that seat would be the greatest service you could do for The Gambian people and mankind in general. Yaya's killing instinct is a mental attitude. And The Gambia is a small family, peopled by decent men and women who for generations would not kill each other for any reason whatsoever. The more time you give to this evil character the greater risk the Gambian people stand to suffer in the future. Remember how it was done in 1994? If the senior ones are too timid to do it, let the junior officers do it. But you must conduct the operation with the genuine intention of calling the civilians to take over the political platform in the shortest possible time. Between us, we all know that Yaya is not a real soldier. He only pretends to be one when in actual fact he is the worst person in uniform who has ever existed in your midst. How many of you have honestly ever seen the fool firing a weapon, leading a tactical operation, conducting a land navigation exercise or going through a BFT? The guy is false in that uniform but has been hiding behind it with the worst abuses imaginable. So GNA soldiers must realize that the day of reckoning is quite close now, when Yaya and his cohorts would pay the price of their evil deeds. You must not allow the outside forces under mobilization now to come and do it for you. History would not forgive you for that in anyway. And most important of all, there are far too many outstanding intellectuals waiting to come and work for the Gambia after the removal of Yaya the moron. Some of the best and finest Gambian brains within or outside the country cannot be utilized because they are humans governed by conscience and integrity. Their positive characters and codes of conduct made them true persons who would rather die than succumb to the terrorist rule of a semi-educated tyrant. Helping the Gambian people lose Yaya therefore is a historical obligation you must fulfil. That would not only mean rescuing our nation at the brink of an imminent disaster but should also be the only acceptable gesture the GNA could make to restore its former prestigious image. It would be popular, blessed, respected and cherished throughout the world from Africa to Europe to Asia and the Americas. Without that, be rest assured that the members of the GNA should continue counting themselves as passengers in Yaya's aircraft to hell where he would be landing for killing our children. May god bless you all. Ebou Colly __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send online invitations with Yahoo! 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