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
>honest progressive Gambian going by the rules to find
>a solution to this state-committed crime but when you
>happen to be dealing with criminals and bandits who
>call themselves “the authorities,” some of us would be
>left with no choice but to signal the warnings when
>deemed necessary. The Chief Justice telling you that
>the report was not with him does not mean to me that
>it was not at all with him; for I must remind you that
>he is part of what constitute the Yaya Jammeh
>syndicate of intellectual crooks. The report might
>have been in his brief case or his drawer while he
>played the innocent with you. I wonder whether you
>tried to find out from him where the report was, or
>who had it if he, by constitutional right, should have
>by then been in possession of the document?
>
>Let us be frank to each other Mr.Sallah, how many
>times did the Gambia government even acknowledge
>receipt of your numerous letters of serious state
>matters sent to them much more reply them.? It is very
>likely that there was none whatsoever. Anyway I don’t
>know about your feelings, but mine tell me that this
>is not going to be an exception and I can’t imagine
>what you will do next if the Chief Justice decided to
>ignore it. Would there be another letter to remind him
>or what? Considering all this makes me think that
>pursuing these reports for a final answer is mare
>waste of time brother.
>
>With their habitual lies coupled with the indisputable
>evidences from the various witnesses both in the
>coroner’s inquest and the Commission so far, I don’t
>think you need a report to draw a conclusion on what
>happened in April. The children were killed with guns
>that nobody wants to accept firing. The authorities
>are not prepared to face the fact that Yaya Jammeh
>ordered the killing; therefore the nation must start
>looking for a serious solution to the problem.
>
>That is why I called for a tougher stand from the
>Gambian people but not by bare handedly confronting
>the armed troops as you implied. Opposition party
>members of the national assembly have been
>contemplating impeaching Yaya for the crude oil
>corruption. Take it from me, the crude oil saga,
>combined with all the crimes committed by Yaya since
>1994, appear secondary in the wake of the April
>massacre. It cannot be right to give more importance
>to the Dalasi than the human lives wasted especially
>where about 14 unarmed children were murdered in cold
>blood.
>
>Reading one of the last articles subscribed by Mr.
>Kebba Dampha, he has come up with a brilliant and
>tougher proposal on how a credible prosecutor can be
>established to handle this case satisfactorily. With
>the concerted efforts of the opposition force in the
>national assembly, they should be able to take charge
>and resolve this matter for the Gambian people. I am
>seriously doubtful about any Yaya-created Inquest or
>commission.
>
>Yaya must go by all means!
>
>
>Ebou Colly
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
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>
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