From Mid night to tonite, BB Darboe, Papa Faal and Saul Saidykhan will shed light on the 1981 coup. The self proclaimed revolutionaries and the Gambia-Senegal defense pact...How BB was instrumental in triggering that agreement. And much more, all day Saturday on Kibaaro radio.

Suntou

The Gambia’s former Vice President has given an account of the July 1981 failed so-called revolution led by the late Kukoi Samba Sanyang.

Bakary Bunja Dabo was the Gambia’s High Commissioner to Senegal at the time. “I first heard of Kukoi Samba Sanyang on July 31, 1981 as he broadcast his notorious announcement over Radio Gambia that he and council had taken over the leadership in the Gambia,” the former diplomat told Kibaaro Radio’s Special Kukoi program anchored by Muhammed Lamin Sillah.

Mr. Dabo said his efforts to get to the Gambia on phone could not materialize. That did not deter him from playing his diplomatic role to provide a solution to what turned to be the Gambia’s greatest security challenge.

It was time for Senegal to invoke the Defence Agreement it had earlier signed with the Gambia. The former Gambian President Sir Dawda Jawara, who was on holiday in London at the time, had ordered Mr. Dabo to contact Senegalese authorities about invoking the said agreement.

Mr. Dabo said since the situation fell within the ambit of the Defence Agreement and that both governments agreed that something needed to be done fast to remedy the situation, it didn’t take long to convince Senegalese authorities to flush out Kukoi’s rag-tag rebels from stealing President Jawara’s legitimate mandate. “So I didn’t have to deploy any extraordinary diplomatic tactics,” Mr. Dabo added.

Dabo is among thousands of Gambians who believe that “historians will grapple with telling Kukoi story.” Kukoi died in Mali last Tuesday leaving behind a lot of unanswered questions about his 1981 deadly mission. He had not also publicly apologized for leading a cause that left a huge toll on innocent lives and properties in a country that was proud of being the most peaceful country on earth at the time.

The Special Program gave Mr. Dabo the chance to debunk his connection with the National Convention Party of the late Sheriff Mustapha Dibba. “I was never a member of National Convention Party.  I didn’t see any reason to be part of the party,” he said, adding that he was historically affiliated with the People’s Progressive Party of Dawda Jawara. Mr. Dabo had not also seen any good reason to join the NCP. Dabo also thrashed false notion that the Teri Kafo [friends club] had any political clout.

Listeners can listen to the Special Kukoi on Kibaaro Radio on Saturday. Saul Saidykhan and Papa Faal who both  wrote about the late Kukoi Samba Sanyang before he had joined his ancestors feature in the Special Program.

--
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com