Gambia-L:

The e-mail below, as usual, has come from one of my sources in the Gambia.

Ebrima Ceesay

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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.
________________________________________________________________________
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