Here's a full text translation from the paper.

Regards,

Kabir

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Olsen, Inger Anne 
To: Amadu Kabir Njie 
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 3:23 PM
Subject: Full text translation from Aftenposten


Hei - 

Her er en engelsk versjon av saken som står i aftenposten i dag, dersom du ønsker den til Gambia-L.

Inger Anne









Teacher charged with sexual assault of 12-year-old



Norwegian police have charge a male Norwegian teacher with the sexual assault of a Gambian boy (12). The abuse allegedly occurred while the teacher holidayed several times in Gambia.

--

Inger Anne Olsen

Banjul/Oslo



--



Buys children. 

Schools are on winter holiday and the male Norwegian teacher in his 50s is back in Gambia. He checks into the same hotel he lived in last time, during the autumn school break. He has asked for a room that is discreetly situated, with no view in, and gets room 401. The room has direct access to the street via a back exit, so he can come and go without passing through reception.



The Norwegian teacher does not live alone. With him sleeps a Gambian boy. Something is very unusual with this cohabitation - the boy is 12 years old.



The boy's father knows that the child spends day and night with the Norwegian man. But the father also knows something else - each month the boy gets as much as three normal months wages in Gambia as pocket money from the Norwegian. In addition, the Norwegian pays the boys school costs.



The father is poor. He closes his eyes and hopes for the best. He believes that he cannot afford to do otherwise.



It looks as if the Norwegian teacher has a good holiday. He is observed in the hotel's restaurant in the company of four young boys. The youngest is perhaps eight years old, the eldest perhaps 16.



This is the fourth time the teacher is holidaying in this country. As yet he does not know that this visit will be different from previous holidays.



"It is wonderful for him"

Aftenposten has closely watched the Norwegian's behavior since November. In December, unprompted, he told us about the beautiful boy.



"I have a good friend in Gambia. He is 12 years old and is a lovely and intelligent boy, very bright. His home is very crowded so I let him live at the hotel with me. It is wonderful for him to have his own bed and to shower as much as he likes," the teacher tells Aftenposten.



When he says this he is about to spend his Christmas holiday travelling to another country where Western men abuse poor children. He relates that he uses all of his money on travel.



The teacher doesn't know that an older cousin of the 12-year-old has worriedly told Aftenposten how the boy is being destroyed by the Norwegian. The teacher also doesn't know that Norwegian tourists staying at the same hotel, on an earlier trip, have just notified Kripos (Norwegian Bureau of Crime Investigation) of what they deem to be highly unusual and disturbing behavior.



This is how the teacher perceives his relationship to the boy:



"His family is very poor, so I help them and pay the boy's school costs. And every month I send him money, via the bank. This autumn he will start at one of Gambia's best private schools. He is with me everywhere, he can eat at the hotel and swim in the pool. I have told his father that I take him everywhere, when I rent a car and drive around in the countryside, too. His family has nothing against this. No one at the hotel has said anything either," the teacher says.



For a moment he looks alarmed.



"But nothing wrong has ever happened! Do you think I should be worried about what they think?"



"I would have been. Has the thought never occurred to you, that someone might react?"



"No, never! I am a person that is open towards everyone and have never had such a thought. There has never been a word about anything like that," the man says.



Desperate relatives

In December, when Aftenposten met the Norwegian, a desperate cousin of the young boy tried to stop what was happening, without success.



"I feel terrible about this because it was I that brought the Norwegian home the first time, at Easter 2003. He very much wanted to visit a Gambian extended family so I took him home to my grandmother's. My cousin lives there as well," said the man, who is in his thirties.



"We made traditional Gambian tea for the Norwegian and my cousin served. The Norwegian came back to visit many times and after some days said that he wanted to help the family financially. Everyone was happy. I was, too," the Gambian said.



When the Norwegian returned during summer holidays the older cousin grew skeptical.



"I reacted to the man always wanting to have small boys sitting on his lap. He rubbed against them. And when he took my cousin with him to the hotel I understood what was going on. I asked the boy if anything wrong had happened but he denied it. He knows that he would be ruined as a Muslim if such a thing happened. I said to my uncle what I thought was happening but he asked me to mind my own business. I don't know what is happening any more. My whole family has frozen me out because I tried to stop this. But before the Norwegian became angry with me he told me that he wanted to take my cousin with him to Norway," the Gambian said.



Boy confessed during questioning

In the meantime Kripos has taken action. Gambian police were informed about the case via Interpol in Lyon. The day the Norwegian arrived on his next visit to Gambia, during the school winter break, Gambian police were notified. After a few days the local police station began their investigation.



Under questioning by Gambian police the 12-year-old admitted what he had denied before - the Norwegian had exploited him sexually. 



Only then did the Norwegian understand what had happened. He hastily broke off his holiday and returned to Norway.



But there Norwegian police were waiting for him. A week ago the investigation was taken over by Oslo police. Now the man is charged, suspected of sexually abusing a 12-year-old.



[log in to unmask]





**********

BUY AND SELL CHILDREN

* Last Friday UNICEF presented a report that showed that in African countries children are twice as exposed to human trafficking as women. 



* The report says that 89 percent of all African nations are marked by human trafficking. 



* In 34 percent of the cases Europe is the target of the sale and in 26 percent the end destination is in the Middle East.



* According to UNICEF human trafficking in children most often occurs when the protective environment collapses from such things as conflict, economic hardship, and discrimination. 



"VERY SERIOUS"

* Oslo police district has taken over the investigation of the teacher's holiday habits. 



* Police lawyer Pål Fredrik Kraby says that police are consider this a very serious case.



* It is still no clear if the hearing of evidence from Gambian police will hold up in a Norwegian court and Norwegian police are now considering whether they will travel to Gambia and investigate further.



* Among other things, it is not clear if the man may have molested more than one child.



* When police last week carried out a search of the man's quarters they found nothing that warranted remanding him in custody. The man's employer has therefore not been notified and he continues in full employment as a teacher.

************

Photo caption: Discreet room. In the second story hotel room with a back exit directly to the street, the middle-aged Norwegian teacher lived with a 12-year-old boy. The Gambian hotel is popular with Scandinavian tourists.

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