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Defense Chief Sacking Tip of the Ice Berg - 11/30/2005 12:19:18 PM

By Panderry M'Bai
Gambia Affairs Writer

There are strange security activities taking place in The Gambian army.
President Jammeh's  decision to sent army chief  Assan Sarr packing is
just a tip of the ice berg. Security analysts  laughed when they read the
government statement accusing Sarr of mistreating his fellow soldiers.
That Sarr was bent on sowing seeds of discord and hatrate within the army?
 Who are these soldiers vilified or harmed by Sarr?  Will President Jammeh
come out in the open and substantiate his allegations?

President Jammeh is good at disowning people he used and abused.  Sarr is
one of those who had been used and abused by Jammeh.  The same Yahya
Jammeh sent  Assan Sarr few weeks ago to the Yundum army barracks to talk
to the soldiers who complained about not being paid.  We do know that Sarr
could not succeed in calming down the aggrieved soldiers, who vowed to
rebel  against the Jammeh government, if their allowances were not paid.
The said soldiers served as peacekeepers in the troubled region of Sudan
and have made their position known to the government of the day.

Jammeh thought that the best way to impress these aggrieved soldiers was
to apportion blame on Sarr.  "The charges brought against Sarr are flimsy
and lacked merit. In the absence of evidence to support such charges,
Gambians will not take the government seriously."said a  highly placed
sources in Yahya's government.

While Jammeh, is trying to conceal  the growing anger and discontent
within the army top brass and junior officers, he  is on the other hand
looking for scape goats. There is a problem at the moment and Jammeh is
refusing to acknowledge such a security problem. The revelations made by
soldier Musa Drammeh should serve as a food  for thought for our men and
women in uniform. That this government is in the business of framing
Gambians,  they perceived as security threat.

Even whereas Assan Sarr,  is said to be unpopular within the army,
Gambians should be cautious about of the "cooked up" stories advanced by
Yahya to black mail people he had fallen  out with. We challenge Jammeh to
provide evidence to back up his accusations against Sarr.

We have been reliably informed by insiders at the Yundum Barracks that
there was no such mistreatment of soldiers , as claimed by Jammeh.  The
said insiders said they were not aware of mistreatment of soldiers as
alleged by Jammeh. The insiders say since the returned of the Gambian
contingent from  Sudan, soldiers who served as peacekeepers had been
placed under close surveillance.  The insiders say some of their
colleagues were re-deployed to other military barracks amidst reports that
the men were angered by the non payment of their allowances.

Major Peter Singhateh headed the said troop to Sudan. Gambians should not
be surprised if  Peter is arrested and discharge from the army. We
received a tip yesterday that Peter Singhateh was also on the firing line.
 Our sources are unimpeachable and unshaken.  Jammeh is a betrayer and
will end up sacrificing his errand boys. He will wonder who is/are leaking
such classified state secrets to us- as stated the other day, we have the
means and the know how to elicit information from Jammeh's own bed room.
Our sources are in every sector of his government and they report to us on
a daily basis.  We will do whatever, it takes to protect such sources and
will publish any accurate information given to us.


It is time for the GNA top brass to  start asking themselves whether it
worth it to  protect Jammeh's selfish interest to the detriment of the
nation. How long will such hiring and firing last? Why should our own
security forces allow to be  used to maim and kill Gambians with impunity?
The sacking and detention of Assan Sarr should serve as an eye opener for
The Gambian military.

We are not convinced that Ndure Cham will stay long in that post.  The
reports we are hearing are not promising at all. We do know that Cham's
appointment is a  diversion and we will elaborate on that later.  Jammeh
had groomed somebody else to man that post. The said person knows himself
and was approached by Jammeh not long ago to head the army.  We seem to be
having two army today in The Gambia.  Yahya Jammeh is aware of the said
army.  The are some who  in support of him and those who are pissed off
with the system.

Jammeh should tell Gambians,  why he refused to attend the Commonwealth
meeting. Is this the Jammeh who said he  was untocuhabe and feared nothing
on this universe?  What happened to Jammeh's bragging and bluff?  Our
sources hinted that Jammeh had cancelled all  his overseas trips for now,
as he receives advise about the imminent security dangers about  such
moves.  We also gathered that he had also stopped going to Kanilai these
days.  Yahya, there are lot of talks going on.  What is happening with
your government?

We have been in touch with state house sources and they confirmed to us
that you sometimes dressed in military uniform in a bid to intimidate the
state guards. That you want to draw their attention to  the military
slogan which says"Once a soldier, is always a soldier."  Yahya, you are
not a gallant soldier as you claimed.  You are better described as a
"retired chicken hearted ceremonial soldier."  This was the soldier who
sought security clearance to return to The Gambia, when students were
gunned down on April 10TH, 2000, while in Cuba on a  visit. Thanks to the
jailed Jarra MP and majority leader Baba K Jobe, Jammeh decided to return
to The Gambia.  Jammeh is good at provoking violence, but he will be the
first person to leave the country, if there are  disturbances. Our
security forces should not allowed to be used to kill  Gambians in the
looming 2006 polls.  The Gambia is bigger than Yahya and the country's
interest comes first,  before Yahya or any other person.  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:
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