Courtesy of the Independent Newspaper


The National Intelligent Agency (NIA) Wednesday morning invited our senior
staff reporter Alhagie Mbye for questioning regarding a story published in
The Independent on Monday July 9 in which Fabakary Kolior Camara ex-APRC
militant vowed to expose Baba Jobe in an international court. The NIA who
invited Mr. Mbye by telephone said that they needed him for clarification.
When he went to the NIA head office, he was asked to answer certain
questions pertaining to an interview he had with Fabakary Kolior Camara. Two
NIA personnel Tijan Bah of the investigation department and Demba Ceesay, a
lab technician and document examiner interrogated him. Fabakary Kolior
Camara was last Monday arrested by the Mansakonko police at Sey Kunda
Village in Jarra West while he was on tour with the National Assembly member
for the area Kemesseng Jammeh. He was handed over to Musa Kinteh the NIA
officer at Soma police station who then took him away.

Many on-lookers expressed concern about his safety, recalling the several
threats made to kill him. When our reporter contacted the Police Public
Relations Officer Sub-Inspector Aziz Bojang, he confirmed Camara's arrest
but said he has been handed over to the NIA for further investigation. When
Mr. Mbye went to the NIA, he found Fabakary Kolior Camara there. Both he and
Mr. Mbye were later called in an office where a copy of The Independent
containing the article was held by Tijan Bah who was then reading it and
asking questions to them both. According to Mr. Mbye, Tijan said the article
was dangerous and that it threatened state security, which he said, was
their duty to deal with. Mr. Bah, he said maintained that the NIA were
concerned about the issue of arms and terrorism and that The Independent
should not have published the story. Mr. Mbye said the NIA officials warned
him to desist from writing about NIA affairs and stressed to him that he
(Mbye) should have been detained until he got the proof of the story.

However, according to Mr. Mbye, he told the NIA officials that it was Kolior
Camara who on several occasions contacted The Independent regarding the
story and that several unsuccessful attempts were made to talk to Baba Jobe
about the story. While they were being interrogated at the NIA, Mr. Mbye
said the entire proceedings were being recorded on video with a video camera
placed on a table. Mr. Mbye denied suggestions that he invented the story
but he told the NIA that it was not the first time that he interviewed Mr.
Camara and that he (Camara) never complained or reacted to any of the
stories until when he was taken to the NIA. Mr. Mbye was then asked to write
down a statement and sign it before he was released, with a warning by the
NIA officials that the security of the country will not be compromised. In
his reaction, Bakary Kolior Camara told the NIA in the presence of Mr. Mbye
that he was partly misquoted during the interview and that he did not mean
that the defunct July 22 Movement members were terrorists.

He said also that what he said about Baba Jobe was that if there was any
proof he was prepared to give evidence against Mr. Jobe in an international
court. He also told the NIA that there was a breakdown in communication
between him and Mr. Mbye as some people were making noise beside him at the
UDP bureau during the interview. He said that he did not properly understand
what the UN Security Council Resolution 1343 entailed. He said that he is a
strong supporter of President Jammeh. He told the NIA that he is behind
President Jammeh's development initiative and that his vote was for him. He
added that he was not aware of any arms in the possession of anyone. "I only
have grievances against the July 22 Movement members because I was
marginalized by them.

I am not loyal to Lawyer Darboe. My vote is for Jammeh and I mean it," he
told the NIA personnel. Mr. Camara also complained that he has been in the
hands of the NIA for three days without taking bath or praying and that he
was only getting one meal a day. However when he was asked by the officers
whether he was not being given food and drink regularly, he responded that
he was not saying anything under duress and that he was neither beaten nor
harassed by anyone. "I am eating regularly," he remarked. Mr. Camara however
pleaded that he should be released as he has been told that his mother was
crying both day and night. The NIA promised to release him as soon as
possible.

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