My heart simply sank on reading this. I pray that it is not a premonition of 
things to come our way the next five years.

Sidibeh
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Hon. Kamaso Feared Dead

The Gambia Journal (Banjul)
NEWS
September 21, 2006
Posted to the web September 22, 2006
Banjul

Sources closed to the NIA (National Intelligence Agency) have revealed to 
the Gambia Journal that the former National Assembly Member for the Wuli 
East constituency, Mrs. Duta Kamaso has died in detention. The death, if 
confirmed, would be one of the most tragic events in The Gambia's recent 
political history.

Mrs. Kamaso was picked up in April, earlier this year, while returning home 
from Senegal, where she was said to have taken a sick child for treatment. 
Though it was never really explained why, but shortly after her arrest, 
state media reported that she had been expelled from the party, thus 
automatically losing her seat in the National Assembly. Mrs. Kamaso won the 
Wuli seat running on APRC ticket but soon fell out with some of the local 
APRC dignitaries over her fierce independence and acclaimed sense of 
integrity.

Some sources close to the APRC party had said that she was detained for 
passing a circular around other APRC National Assembly members asking them 
to take up the matter of farmers whose groundnuts had not been paid by 
state-sponsored groundnut buyers. Most of her constituents are farmers and 
depend on groundnut farming for cash sustenance. The story had it that 
though Mrs. Kamaso did this because she was going to be away from the 
Assembly's sitting in order to nurse a sick child, the matter of the 
petition was reported to the President, the ruling party leader, as if Mrs. 
Kamaso had been engaged in an attempt to organize a vote of no confidence 
against the Jammeh regime.

Hon. Kamaso was arrested shortly after her arrival and before her expulsion 
from the party was made public. Since then Mrs. Kamaso had been kept under 
the custody of the NIA in mosquito infested makeshift cells, without access 
to lawyers and even members of her family. The arrest of persons elected by 
the people, who by right do enjoy some immunity from such arbitrary arrests, 
has become common recently in the country. Another APRC member of the 
National Assembly, Omar Demm, has been in detention since the foiling of the 
alleged coup attempt in March. The former Mayor of the country's largest 
municipality, Mr. Abdoulie Conteh also spent six weeks in detention earlier 
this year.

There has yet been no official word on the widespread rumor of the former 
lawmaker's death. Also rife on the grapevines is the rumored death of former 
NIA director General, Abdoulie Kujabi. It is the third time rumors have been 
circulating this year on his alleged death. Mr. Kujabi, formerly very close 
to President Jammeh, has been in detention since March 2006 and has been 
seen in the hospital in Banjul six weeks ago. Though he was arrested in 
connection with the alleged coup attempt, Mr. Kujabi is yet to be formerly 
charged with any crimes.

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