Pa Nderry,
  The blood diamond, Gambia's milling millions, arming of rebels in Casamance are all facts and figures of criminalisation of our state by Yahya Jammeh.Soldiers without political education are nothing order than criminals.

panderry mbai <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  [input]
EDITORIAL


We gathered that diamond cutting machines were shipped into The Gambia, in 2002, prior to the imprisonment of Baba K Jobe, former majority leader of Gambia's Parliament, highly placed sources close to the state house in Banjul unveiled. These modern machines, were smuggled into the West African country, by people claiming to be acting in the name of The Gambian government.

While working as a journalist in The Gambia, myself and the late Deyda Hydara pursued the story in 2004. A highly placed source close to the Jammeh, government walked into our Point offices, one afternoon to expose the said diamond cutting and polishing machines, which were smuggled into the country. We had the source's voice on tape and he claimed to be privy of the said transactions and the place the machines were stationed in The Gambia. The source hinted that the machines were operated by some foreign and local nationals at a residence in Fajara.

We contacted two private Gambian citizens engaged in diamond sale and were named in the said scam. The two confirmed the presence of the said machines, but denied being a party to the said deal. Baba K Jobe, Yankuba Touray, Yahya Jammeh's and one Robert, a foreign National names featured prominently in our investigations. European diamond dealers, working with one of the said Gambian diamond dealers were forced to leave The Gambia, following a rift they had with the government. They used to have an office along the Kairaba Avenue. A local lawyer representing the said European Nationals, confirmed the departure of his clients. We later learnt that the deportees settled in Sierra Leone.

Few people at the Point, were aware of the said breaking news story. Deyda and I investigated the piece for about a week. For some reasons, we decided to drop the piece, for legal implications. Our source kept on calling at the Point, on a daily basis, insisting that the said piece was factual and we shouldn't fear for anything. However, the source would not want to be publicly associated with the said scandal against the state. This government is blood thirsty and will go all out to kill anybody who is in possession of information that they perceived to be a threat to state security.

While the regime is yet to take responsibility for Deyda's murder, we can comfortably say that he was killed because of the factual stories reported by his paper. We are not trying to link the diamond machines piece to his murder, but it could be one of the factors. Who knows if the said Gambian citizens named in our findings, informed the state about our damaging story? I remember one of them telling me that"Pa Nderry, you are pursuing a story, which could land you and your paper into trouble. Tell Deyda, to call me. I want to talk to both of you. We have no hands in this. All we know is that, the machines were brought by the government."

It is imperative to note that the President's new millennium plane is frozen by the United Nation's Security Council, for arm trafficking and diamond sale. The said plane is currently grounded. President Jammeh, should do justice to himself and the Presidency and explain the rational behind the presence of the said diamond machines in the country.

We do know that there is a war on terror and not long ago a report was released on alqada, using blood diamonds to facilitate their ongoing terror campaign against the civilised world. In the interest of justice and fair play, this government should tell us what these machines were meant for and why they should be imported into our country. We are not making accusations against President Jammeh. We are publishing information we gathered from his own servants. It is up to Jammeh to deny or confirm the said scandalous piece.

According to our source, these machines were smuggled through The Gambia Port and were cleared by Baba K Jobe. "The diamond cutting machines could be compared with the latest modern machines in Antwerp, Belgium. The machines were brand new and could process a lot diamond stones."said our source.

The state had good reasons to jail Baba Jobe. But Jobe, could have been a vital defendant in the Sierra Leone war crime UN tribunal. The UN should start pushing so that Jobe could be handed to the court to shed lights on these diamond machines, which the government of the day, will always denied. Our source used to dine and do things with Yahya and we have no cause to doubt his reliability.

In the first place, why the need for such machines? Is this government telling us that they have links with diamond dealers? Beside, the said revelations, we also learnt that our government had been listed among the countries that contributed to the sale of blood diamonds. The report hinted about the number of diamond stones sold during the period in question. This is an embarrassing state of affairs. We expect the Jammeh government to engage in decent deals and not shady deals, as it is always
the order of the day. Please stop importing dirty diamonds into The Gambia. We need clean diamonds and not blood diamonds. Jammeh will be shocked today by my revelations. This is just a tip of the ice berg. There is more to come in days and weeks. We will not rest, until these criminals seized presiding over the affairs of our dear country. We rest our case......

The author is the former Secretary General of The Gambia press Union and also a former Voice of America radio Banjul Correspondent. Mr. M'Bai who now resides in the US State of North Carolina Raleigh was a leading political and crime reporter with the Point and Daily Observer newspapers respectively. He can be reached by email at the following addresses: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]



























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