Mr Colley,
         Bravo for the good job. I have been following
your postings especially THE COUP one,two and three
respectively. I am one of those who were fooled by the
fact, the Nov.11so called Coup attemp was a real one,
but thanks to your postings; the bright light is seen.
Iam eagerly waiting for the part four. This evil might
be for a while but not for ever, their turn is just
around the corner.
               Lamin
--- ebou colly <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>                                          COUP IN
> GAMBIA THREE
> KB Dampha, I am pleased but equally saddened that
> you
> asked about Gibril Saye or Lieutenant Saye. Pleased
> in
> the sense that his case needs to be told which I
> shall
> attempt to do the way I understand it. But am also
> quite sad to remember every thing about this fine
> soldier who was too good to die the way he did.
> Everything you mentioned about this soldier,
> especially his devotion and love to promote sports
> in
> the GNA-had a keen hand in football, basketball,
> volleyball and everything-made him more so a victim
> to
> be mourned and wept for until that day when his body
> is exhumed from that toilet pit and given a decent
> burial. We can classify Saye as the real soldier
> with
> difference. He was nice, respectable and highly
> competent. But above everything, the young man was
> soft hearted, couldn't hurt a fly when it comes to
> killer instincts that we saw among the ranks of the
> army since 1994. The guy had conscience and would
> rather die than see the truth twisted and remain
> indifferent to it like so many APRC lackeys we see
> today. One of the reasons I later learnt for the
> AFPRC's decision to eliminate him was among other
> things his constant challenge to all of them over
> our
> detention at the central prisons without any
> credible
> reason or explanation for it. I understand he had
> openly and constantly protested to the council
> members
> to try us if they had anything against us or set us
> free. But death row at Mile Two prisons was not, as
> far as he was concerned, a place for good officers
> like us. He had even gone against all odds one day
> by
> coming to the prisons to see us with encouraging
> words
> to the effect that they were working hard for our
> freedom. He had brought us provisions and toilet
> articles as well. It was shocking to learn few days
> later that Saye was dead.
> So you were right Dampha in stating that the 11th
> November event found me in jail. About thirty-five
> of
> us were detained for nothing we did.  But I can
> still
> remember how devastated Saye's family was over the
> death of the man who solely provided for them. They
> even had to send a secret inquirer at Mile-Two
> prison
> to find out whether Saye was detained with us. His
> father cannot still get over what he new was a
> murder
> of his son, because he saw his son when he was
> leaving
> for work the morning after the so-called abortive
> counter coup. Soldiers who were present at the camp
> that day also took the trouble to go to the family
> house and explained to them what happened at Yundum
> that weekend afternoon.
> I personally conducted my private investigation over
> the case and came out with the concrete evidence
> that
> these men were murdered when they least expected it
> from these cowards. A man like Saye would have never
> dreamt about Sana Sabally taking a direct role in
> his
> slaughtering. They were very close job associates,
> sharing the same office where Saye was his deputy in
> the heavy-weapons platoon. They were always together
> in their small office by the fuel storeroom. Before
> the coup one would easily mistaken them for brothers
> given the way they used to hang closely together.
> On the flip side however I think that was the reason
> why Sabally freaked out after the 11th November
> massacre. Killing a human being out of no
> justifiable
> reason could be psychologically very traumatic to
> the
> mind of the killer but when the relationship between
> the killer and the victim was bonded by that human
> factor bordering on friendship and love, the tragedy
> turns into a clinical nightmare.
> Anyway, that's another trivial story that I may come
> back to in later discussions.
> But as I said I started my investigation about 11th
> November in the jail with special interest in Saye's
> case. The first opportunity I had to know what
> exactly
> happened was when in February surviving soldiers
> arrested and accused of complicity in the counter
> coup
> were brought to Mile-Two prisons under heavy armed
> guard. The notorious Staff Sergeant Kanyi was part
> of
> the guards. They had to be transferred from the
> Yundum
> cells to death row at Mile Two. They were WO-2 A
> Trawelleh, Sgt. N kabareh, Sgt. S. Manjang Cpl.
> A.Jallow, Cpl. M. Saidykhan, L/CPL M.O. Njie, L/CPL
> K.
> Kamara and PTE. B. Manneh.
> When they were first brought in, they were so much
> convinced of being lesser criminals than we were
> that
> for a while they refused to say anything pertaining
> to
> what bought them there. Every one of them thought
> his
> arrest or detention was a mistake because, as far as
> they were concerned, they did not have a clue about
> any organized counter coup as such. As a result they
> all thought sooner rather than later they were going
> to go home.
> Then on the22nd February, 1995, each of them
> received
> a letter from Baboucarr Jatta's office (then army
> commander) warning them to brace up for a general
> court martial scheduled to start on 25th February
> 1995. That was to say that they had barely thirty
> hours to face a court martial on charges of treason.
> For their defense, they were not allowed to have any
> representation from professional legal officers or
> practitioners. The following officers' names were
> forwarded to them as the only available persons they
> could choose their legal representatives from:
> Captain
> M.B. Sarr, Captain S. Fofana, Captain JP Jasseh and
> Lt. Seckan. These were men who were big time legal
> illiterates. For the prosecution however, Justice B.
> Akamba a Ghanaian solicitor was the head of the
> team.
> It was clear to all the accused that it was after
> all
> a kangaroo court martial that awaited them and they
> also knew that Baboucarr Jatta was a genius at it.
> It
> was a lost course to all of them.
> That was the time they really started talking. By
> the
> time they were hastily tried, found guilty and all
> sentenced to nine years imprisonment with hard
> labor,
> they had told us everything they witnessed and knew
> about the murder of their colleagues.
> Most of them were arrested after Barrow, Faal and
> Nyang were killed but well before Saye was arrested.
> They were in the Yundum cells when Saye reported for
> work the following morning and was placed under
> arrest
> by the military police. Every clothes he was wearing
> (he was in working uniform) was taken off him and
> was
> left with only his underwear before the military
> police forced him to join them in the cells. He was
> stunned and tried to ask for explanation but was
> simply told that the orders came from the council
> members of the government. Who were they? Of course
> the cowards: Yaya Jammeh, Sana Sabally, Edward
> Singhateh, Sadibou Haidara and Yankuba Touray.
> Anyway like all of them who were detained Saye had
> felt that the error would be corrected and that he
> would soon be set free.
> Then the next day while Major Frazer Joof, commander
> of the military police unit was taking their
> statements at the military police office, they
> received orders to stop the investigation and send
> them back to the cells. They were informed that the
> council members were at the officer's mess
> discussing
> their fate. It was lunchtime, so they decided to
> have
> their meals. Half way in their eating they heard
> some
> strange movements out side. Then a voice they could
> not recognized started calling for all those
> officers
> arrested to come out now. Sorting out the officers
> from the other ranks was, according to them, very
> scary.
> All the officers were handcuffed the moment they
> stepped outside. Then they loaded them like sheep in
> the back of an army Land Rover and covered them with
> tarpaulin.
> The windows of the cells at Yundum were not quite
> high, so those in the cells could clearly view the
> activities going on outside. It was from there that
> they saw the convoy of council members departing
> with
> the officers including Saye. Baboucarr Jatta was
> with
> them too.
> For two to three hours they sat in silence praying
> and
>
=== message truncated ===


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices
http://auctions.yahoo.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
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------