Gambia-L: The e-mail below, as usual, has come from one of my sources in the Gambia. Ebrima Ceesay ______________________________________________________________________ Ebrima, The friendship between Yahya Jammeh and his pal Edward Singhateh has deteriorated to such an extent that Edward has threatened to resign from the Government for the third time just recently, but Yahya is refusing his resignation because the last thing he wants is for Edward to leave the Gambia. For those of you who are abroad be informed that Edward first threatened to resign a few years ago, when Tuti Faal was the first lady. He (Edward) had the habit, then, of greeting Tuti Faal each morning at State House; however, one day he went to greet Tuti Faal, but the guards refused him entry. He (Edward) asked them why he was refused entry and in response they told him that Yahya gave them "orders" that he, Edward, should not be allowed to visit Tuti Faal in his absence. By the way during this period, Yahya Jammeh was overseas. Anyway, Edward insisted on seeing Tuti Faal and it was at this point that Lt Sanneh, now accused of a coup plot by Yahya Jammeh, had threatened to shoot Edward if he, Edward, did not leave the gates of State House. Sanneh even disarmed Edward. When Tuti Faal got to know about what happened to Edward, she had "sympathised" with him and also assured the guards that Edward was very loyal to her husband (Jammeh). Anyway, Ebrima, when Yahya Jammeh returned to Banjul from his trip, he was informed of everything that happened, but he instead exonerated Sanneh and then added or confirmed that he, Jammeh, was the very one who gave Sanneh orders to shoot Edward if he, Edward, came to State House in his absence. When Yahya uttered this statement, Edward was so down for days, and after he recovered from the shock, he attempted to resign, but was discouraged by two good colleagues. And the second time he threatened to resign was when Yahya removed the port folio of Fisheries from him. Also, very recently, he again attempted to resign, for the third time, but the dictator of Kanilai is refusing the resignation because he suspects that Edward wants to leave the Gambia and then makes a deal with the West in order to expose him (Yahya) more. In fact, Edward is no longer interested or committed to the job and hardly reports for duties these days. Or even if he reports for work, he doesn't arrive in the office on time. In the past, he was one person who was very regular and punctual at work but that is no longer the case nowadays. He is also due to go to Taiwan for "medical check up", but Yahya is refusing him to travel because he (Jammeh) again lied that he had intelligence reports that Edward will not return to the Gambia if he left the Gambia for Taiwan. In actual fact, Ebrima, Edward has a health problem with his chest (around his right lung) and he had a treatment for it during the transition in Taiwan. So he is now due to have another check up in Taiwan, but Yahya, as I said earlier on, doesn't trust Edward to travel abroad. In fact, after Edward attempted to resign recently, Yahya did instruct his security forces to ask Edward to surrender his travelling documents to him but I do not know the outcome of that. What I know is that Edward had a British Passport which he returned to the British Home Office in keeping with the then Gambian law when he joined the Army. What has however emerged and this is confirmed by my diplomatic sources, is that Edward's younger brother, Peter Singhateh, was re-issued with a British passport when he came to the UK some years ago to study at the Sandhurst Military Training Academy. So, Ebrima, the differences or should I even say the enmity between Yahya and Edward has become so bad these days that I for one would not be surprised if Edward left the Gambia secretly using his younger brother's passport. But knowing the security threat Edward and Kaba Bajo would pose to his regime if the two men went abroad, Yahya did make a point of duty that the two men are under continued surveillance. Meanwhile, the friendship between Yankuba Touray and Edward has also deteriorated to the extent that Edward was even over heard calling Yankuba "thief". Don't be surprised therefore if Yankuba one day calls Edward "a killer". These are good signs for the ordinary Gambians. Jammeh's boat is about to sink or should I say has started sinking. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------