--Dear KB,

Hope everything is fine with you on this Sunday
morning? I just decided to extend to you my joy and
serious satisfaction over the special role you are
playing in the struggle. I think together, our
vigilance and uncompromising positions is helping a
lot to properly shape the line of events at home. I
have been receiving favorable comments from The Gambia
indicating that we have been doing a great job by
hitting frequent blows on where it hurts the APRC
government most. That means we are definitely on track
and must not under any pressure relent from the focal
point. We must sustain the momentum and keep on
telling everybody out there that the April massacres
is not negotiable, forgettable or "delayable". It is
the worst crime that a government could commit on its
people making those governors better fit for firing
squad or indefinite incarceration than still leaving
them there pretending to investigate themselves.
And unfortunately, there are still those opposing
elements such as Halifa Sallah who could have been
more effective but would sometimes fall for their
calculated stratagems. But I think that with all his
endless arguments our messages to him have made its
desired effect. Trying to lecture the bandits on the
constitutional guidelines of that irrelevant coronary
report was the last thing we needed from him. You were
right when you expressed your fear for providing these
snakes with pointers that they can resort to, to
merely waste more time.
Anyway I could read from his last postings that the
contents and style of his messages have some how
changed for the better. This time he was less
mechanical and more natural with the whole situation,
telling us the hard facts as the common person would
want to hear and understand them.
I hope the other opposition forces will also start
making the massacre agenda a greater priority than the
crude-oil thing with the UDP and the farmer’s
un-bought groundnuts with the NRP. There is no better
justifiable course to declare total war against Yaya’s
government than the murder and maiming of those poor
kids. Treating it as a side issue to any challenge the
opposition forces may wish to launch against Yaya is
unrealistic. This is what I think we should keep on
reminding everybody out there; and your contribution
towards that has been tremendous. So I urged you to
keep up the great work and understand that I am your
dependable comrade at anytime and any place.

Yaya must go by all means!

Have a nice day brother.

Ebou Colly

- Dampha Kebba <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Once again Mr. Colly, you have approached the
> subject with your typical
> matured and measured way. We have no doubt about
> your commitment to our
> children and the country at large. Thank you very
> much for your
> contributions. We also thank Mr. Sallah for his
> efforts. We are especially
> encouraged by his efforts to ensure the appointment
> of a private prosecutor
> for the Ebrima Barry matter. We encourage him to
> also call for the
> appointment of an independent prosecutor for the
> massacres of April 10 and
> 11. The government had indicated earlier on that
> although they are willing
> to appoint a prosecutor from abroad, they would only
> cater for his/her local
> expenses in The Gambia. We should be prepared to do
> the rest. This is the
> only way we can get to the bottom of this matter. We
> could have easily sat
> down and do nothing but wait for the outcome of the
> commission's report and
> when there is no smoking gun, I would come out and
> said: "I told you so".
> But that would be irresponsible on our part. We
> would be aiding in the
> government's action to cover this thing up. Ask any
> respectable criminal
> lawyer and they will tell you that the case against
> the culprits is
> virtually lost because the integrity of the evidence
> have been compromised
> by the long hiatus between the commission of the
> crime and the beginning of
> any meaningful investigation. What is being revealed
> at the commission would
> take a respectable prosecutor few hours to discover.
> Better still, the
> prosecutor will unearth evidence he/she can use in
> court. Not testimony that
> leads nowhere. I challenge anyone that thinks that
> this commission is a good
> idea to tell me their best case scenario. What do
> they expect to achieve
> from these proceedings? I clearly articulated what
> was to be expected from
> Ousman Jammeh from the onset. We had a plan ready
> for what to do after he
> finished his sittings and fail to hand down
> indictments. I know what the
> commission is going to do. Almost every Gambian
> knows too. It is baffling
> and frustrating when people come here and pretend
> that this commission is
> committed to dispense justice and they should be
> given benefit of the doubt.
> Giving them benefit of the doubt translate to
> destroying the evidence
> against the culprits. Why should we risk that for a
> report that is going to
> come out and blame parents for allowing their
> children to go out and
> demonstrate? A report that is not going to name a
> single person of substance
> as a trigger-man? A report that is not going to say
> that Yaya ordered his
> men while he was in Cuba to open fire on our
> children? A report that is not
> going to ensure that Ousman Badgie is indicted and
> punished for his crimes
> together with Yaya, Njie-Saidy etc. I repeat that
> the revelations from these
> proceedings are virtually worthless to a prosecutor.
> Take Mr. Sawaneh's
> testimony for instance. No court will allow that in
> to prove that Yaya gave
> orders to shoot the children. This is the ugliest
> form of hearsay. The man
> was narrating something someone else (the corporal)
> told him, that someone
> else (the commissioner) said Yaya said. As I
> understand it, Sawaneh can only
> testify about his own conversations with people. And
> he later said that the
> commissioner said he did not give the orders. So you
> see. Right there, we
> were back to square one. Dizzying merry-go-round. A
> prosecutor would have
> spoken to Sawaneh, followed up with the corporal,
> the corporal's boss, the
> commissioner and then Yaya. What is the point in
> parading these people
> before the commission to give unfocused evidence
> that could have been given
> straight to a prosecutor that can use the evidence
> in court with a sharper
> focus? That's the basic question we should ask
> ourselves. My answer to that
> question should be clear to everyone by now. This is
> just a ploy by the
> government to delay and deny justice to the families
> of the slain victims.
> KB
>
>
>
>
> >From: ebou colly <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing
> list
> ><[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: CORONER'S INQUEST AND COMMISSION OF
> INQUIRY (fOROYA)
> >Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 21:26:29 -0700
> >
> >Re: CORONER’S INQUEST AND THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
> >(Foroye)
> >
> >
> >
> >My dear Mr. Sallah,
> >
> >I must first state that when I made my observations
> on
> >your letter I certainly did not do it with any hard
> >feelings. I have no doubt that you were once again
> >engaged in an honest effort to do something
> positive
> >in the wake of the April massacre. Certainly your
> >letter was addressed to the Chief Justice because
> the
> >addressee was clearly printed on the above-left
> side
> >of the document. And I also understood and
> appreciated
> >your action to share its content with the members
> of
> >the L.
> >
> >However, my intervention was simply meant to
> reinforce
> >my ever-strong conviction that Yaya and nobody else
> >ordered the killing of the children. I have been
> >saying this from day one and as I monitor the
> >proceedings down there, it appeared that most
> >witnesses’ testimonies tend to consolidate this
> fact
> >stronger. In fact I was not surprised that for the
> >first time now witnesses have told the actual thing
> at
> >last. At the heat of the butchering at Brikama Ba,
> it
> >was revealed that the Divisional Commissioner was
> >quoted to have said that Yaya ordered the killing.
> >With all those crocodile tears, the insult to the
> >families he tried to pay off for killing their
> >children and his appointment of a commission of
> >inquiry and all what not, the bottom line is that
> Yaya
> >in the end must be held accountable. Anything other
> >than that should be considered a mistrial.
> >
> >As a result Mr. Sallah, I have been throughout
> >watchful and perhaps too oversensitive about this
> >focal issue. When you mentioned your futile search
> for
> >the report of the coroner’s inquest at the office
> of
> >the Chief Justice the action that precipitated your
> >letter, I had to reacted but more in sympathy with
> you
> >than otherwise. Of course as I said, the whole
> thing
> >about your action wasn’t clear to me until after
> Mr.
> >Kebba Dampha’s comments and your subsequent
> >clarification. That was when I precisely understand
> >the background behind the letter. Thus, I had
> >seriously thought that the version of the letter
> >posted to the L would have been viewed differently
> if
> >you had in few lines introduced or concluded it
> with
> >the background of its purpose. Failure to do that
> was
> >what I think put the critics on an initial muggy
> >trail.
> >
> >I was definitely convinced that you were truly
> engaged
> >in an honest effort but your obsession to get that
> >report by all means as if without it the real facts
> >could not be authenticated was what bothered me a
> >little. The APRC government as experience might
> have
> >taught you thrive on dishonesty fraud and lies even
> in
> >the presence of God and his angels. You may be an
>
=== message truncated ===


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