Date:       Wed, 26 Jan 2000

From:       ebou colly <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:    Yaya's Power Base?


THE GNA SOLDIERS NOT THE POWER BASE FOR YAYA JAMMEH

Before dealing with my next subject, I would first like to extend my sincere
appreciation to all those wonderful comments sent by various readers of my
last issue. Your encouraging words were certainly morale boosters and have
reinforced my determination and spirit to be more sharing with a candid approach. I
cannot however ignore the few questions forwarded doubting the credibility of
my information, because I sincerely believe that every skeptic deserve a
satisfactory explanation of everything said about the Jammeh regime. Saying that I
was a true serving member of the Gambia National Army (GNA) from its early
inception in 1985 to its most recent past may not be sufficient consolidate the
credibility I hope to project. If I also stopped at merely explaining my broad
knowledge of military operations-orders ranging from the section, platoon,
company or even battalion battle drills, the highest operational capability of
the present GNA my points may still not sink in well into the minds of those
without proper military education.

However before elaborating on some more tangible lines, I would like to
inform everybody that I am a well-trained infantry soldier with advanced skills of
a combatant in field craft, the special ability of a sharp shooter but above
all the discipline of a true soldier. A true soldier precisely means a good
fighter for the right course without being unnecessarily bloodthirsty. It also
means being professional and having less or nothing to do with politics.
Soldiers with political aspirations are nothing but rebels or bandits in uniform.

However let me now give a broader or additional proof of my assertion that
Jammeh's government always comes up with false coup plots merely to eliminate
innocent Gambians. Take the case of Captain Yankuba Drammeh the current
Commanding Officer(CO) of the largest fighting battalion in the GNA,1 Infantry
Battalion. His office and cellular phone numbers are 4722121 and 990178 respectively.
Call him and if he is honest with you should be able to tell you the
harrowing experience he suffered at Mile Two Central prisons accused by Jammeh of a
dubious coup plot against his government. Or you try Captain Cherno Jallow the
present CO of the second largest battalion on his office number-497100-and he
could also tell you the terrible days he was incarcerated at death row by Yaya
for planning a coup he could not justify. Captain Alpha Kinteh at the Army
Headquarters Banjul on 225772or225771 also suffered in the hands of Yaya on a
coup conspiracy charge no one could enlighten for him. I could go on and on, but
that would simply tie me down on this subject that I think I have now been
adequately treated, at least for this forum. So I will move to my next subject
deserving equal importance.

As a former member of the GNA I am now trying to find the right voice to
speak for mainly those honest and good soldiers of the GNA who had nothing to do
with Yaya's coup and are ashamed of being associated with him or his
government. Nevertheless the general civilian public often categorize all the soldiers
in uniform as other Yaya Jammehs, Edward Singhatehs, Lamin Kaba Bajos, Yankuba
Tourays or the few stupid ones blindly following them.

Contrary to that stereotype concept, I can speak with confidence that 90% or
more of the GNA soldiers on active service are very good, honest and God
fearing Gambians holding on to their jobs primarily to make a simple living. But
given the negative legacy of African armies in general with the Gambia not an
exception, the civilian population have developed the wrong notion that all the
soldiers are evil. Consequently when members of the army are improperly
treated in a manner that does not conform with the standard laws of the nation or
the constitution, the legal institutions or civil population usually brush it
aside as unimportant isolated problems.

Take for instance the so-called counter coup of 11th November 1994 when Yaya
Jammeh falsely accused some GNA officers and other ranks and then summarily
executed them in the most gruesome manner. The majority were executed on the
13th of November, two days after the AFPRC government stated that all of them
were killed in a fire on the 11th of November. The entire Gambian public was
aware of the lies of the government in that serious crime. But how did they react
to that unlawful butchery of those innocent Gambian soldiers? They simply
gossiped their regret over the terrible act without a single voice of protest
raised or any form of pressure exerted on Jammeh and his killers to satisfy their
doubts.

The soldiers at Yundum Barracks that evening wept like children as their
colleagues were driven away in a Land Rover pick-up vehicle to the out skirts of
Nyambai Forest where they were cowardly killed one after another. Their dead
limp bodies were later brought back and handed over to the moronic
Chief-Of-Staff Baboucarr Jatta who supervised the final terrible act of burying the men
naked behind the toilets. The bulk of the soldiers stood by numb in their legs
with fear and shock. And as soon as they left the barracks the stupefied
soldiers started telling the whole story the exact manner it happened and monsters
who took part in the killing. The last shots that killed Sergeants E.M.Ceesay
and Basiru Camara were ordered by Edward Singhateh around 6.00p.m. His former
driver Batch Jallow used a Chinese-made A.K 47,folding butt, to shoot and killed
the two Sergeants at point range. But all the killing instructions were
coming directly from Yaya. It was the worst crime committed against humanity by the
AFPRC government.

Anyhow the Gambian public seemed to care less about that crime. At least the
Gambian public could have asked for the bodies with proper postmortem
performed on everyone and of course have them handed over to their families for proper
burial. There was no war or social disturbance in the nation at that moment
to necessitate that hasty and terrible burial. The only reason they was to hide
the evidence of what did. Up to tkis present time no one shows a glimmer of
interest in that case. It is not proper for those soldiers to remain there
forever as if they do not deserve to be buried in any cemeteries in the country.
Why should Yaya Jammeh condition the minds of all the Gambians into remaining
this silent about something that has no iota of justice or human decency? Why?
Why? Why? These men had wives and children who still dont't know where their
fathers have disappeared to since that day they left for work in 1994. By
comparison however, the other tragic killing of Ousman Koro Ceesay six months later
seemed to have attracted more public sympathy and out cry than the innocent
Gambian soldiers lying at Yundum.What's the logic? It was really ugly killing
the former Finance Minister of the AFPRC government and burning him in his
official car to hide the evidence.

But did you know that Lt.Gibril Saye was bayonetted all over his body
including both his eyes before he was finally shot by Staff Sergent Kanyi? Lt.
Abdoulie Faal (DOT) had his back bone broken by bending him backwards until the bone
snap at his waist before he was shot and killed with a 9mm pistol.

All these stories were more or less known to the Gambian public, but because
they were soldiers, the crimes were perfectly normal. So one could judge
clearly the precarious message behind the whole episode. When Jammeh hits a
civilian regardless of how friendly or close that person was to the tyrant, the
action is condemned with the whole GNA sometimes blamed for it. Yet when a soldier
attempts to even question the legitimacy of the idiot and is as a result
maimed or killed the public says little or nothing about it.

Anyhow in actual fact , looking at Jammeh's government since the coup in
1994,it has always been the civilians who supplied him with the right
administrative ingredients that has sustained his government for so long. The soldiers
could not and in reality would not if they could. Apparently even the most
educated and best trained soldiers of the GNA had no clue of how to run a government
much more Yaya one of the most under-educated and less-trained in the army.
With his grade 11 high school education the idiot was not even a member of the
GNA. He was a gendermarie personnel with then worst record of professional or
academic attainment. If the civilians worshipping him were aware of how
mentally backward he was, and they decide to stop helping him today, within few
hours his government would collapse altogether. But perhaps the civilians very
well know the low mental level of the fool and enjoy exploiting it for their
selfish interest What is only sad about it is the continuous denunciation of the
ordinary common soldiers for keeping the Kaninlai monsterin power.

 But can you remember Fafa Mbye who selfishly armed the Jammeh regime in the
beginning with all those decrees and legal arsenals used to destroy several
selected Gambian families? Can you also remember those so-called great civilian
intellectuals of the Jawara era who have totally shifted their loyalty to
Jammeh with fanatical zeal. On the active front, there were the Bolong Sonkos, the
Blaise Jagnes,Omar Njie,Famara Jatta, Isatou Njie Saidy,Balla Jahumpa and now
the most prominent being Momodou Lamin Sidat Jobe. Would all of them in the
end be treated as innocents and blame the soldiers for Jammeh's crimes?

My friends let's be realistic I think it would have been somewhat fairer if
blame was shared between the greedy civilian and the rebels in uniform
disguised as soldiers. Even with that, an objective critic may want to think twice if
the calibre of soldiers in power is well scrutinised. For example the sadist
Edward Singhateh, apart from his animal brutality which makes him a notorious
killer of innocent Gambians,the half-cast has nothing in his brain to make him
a competent administrator. As for Yankuba Touray, his only effective role in
the system is taking the local political platform and reinforcing every lie
uttered by Yaya. He has the mental ability of a kindergarten child. He is
absolutely zero when it comes to formulating government policies let alone executing
them. Lamin Kaba Bajo? He is the one I respect the least among them. Hiding
behind religion, he is the most empty-headed and disloyal person in the history
of security forces in the Gambia. At the time of the coup in 1994,Lamin was a
captain commanding the whole Presidential Guards of Ex-President
Jawara.However,when the coward heard about the advancing soldiers coming to overthrow the
government he abandoned the unit and ran away to Dakar Senegal with President
Jawara's family.He returned a week later to be given a high position by Jammeh
because they were old friends.

These are men who have no virtues, carry little or no valuable knowledge in
their head and lacked every form of human conscience to make them good
administrators. So take it from me, an ordinary civil disobedience of the Jammeh
establishment would have been the easiest way to expel his government from power.
The real soldiers would prefer it that way. A genuine mass movement will in
fact attract a lot of soldiers to move along with it rather than against it. But
instead even the career politicians remain silent in their chambers. Where are
the Sheriff Dibbas, Andrew Camaras, Gibou Jagnes etc. etc.? You may not know
this but frankly speaking it hurts all serving soldiers dearly to associate
Yaya Jammeh with true military characters or values since the man is nothing but
a pathological liar, a "corruptomaniac" and a mass murderer under the guise
of the noble army uniform. He lies about every thing under the sun, he even
decorated him self with the ECOMOG medal and would often lie shamelessly about
the peacekeeping role he played in Liberia when he had never step his foot
there. He lies about how Sana Sabally and the late Sadibou Haidara aimed their
weapons at him on the 27th of January 1994 and attempted to shoot him without
success because his "jujus" caused the guns to malfunction. The soldiers who
apprehended Sana and Sadibou would tell you how Yaya almost shit his pants that day
out of fear hiding away from the actual encounter. And where did he get all
the millions of Dalasis he has been spending on his private multi-million
Dalasi projects in the country? The soldiers are all disturbed by his wave of
corrupt activities.

Take for instance the insult to all military ethics by Jammeh giving the
official residence of the CO at Fajara Barracks to his mother. The house was once
occupied by Major Ebrima Chongan and should have now been occupied by the
current Commander. I don't need to say any more on why I termed him a mass
murderer anyway. But believe in me, looking at the danger Yaya has entangled himself
with as the pitiful President of The Gambia condemned on a clear path of
ultimate doom, few or no soldiers would even contemplate eliminating him for fear
of being stock with the possibility of becoming another suicidal leader.
However the idiot lives in a dream world of a child's mind far duller than that of
Samuel Doe's who once got the message and chance to leave the political scene
when he could but played the fool until he was captured and butchered. With
Yaya,his recent remarks in The Gambia saying that presidents don't die in their
own political problems indicates how unreceptive his brain is in political
history of the African continent.

But I would still insist that the civilians and not the soldiers for once
take the bull by the horns and do it to Yaya Jammeh. Or would they continue to
find their personal opportunities of big positions in the government while still
blaming the soldiers for keeping Jammeh in power? Was it not a shocking shame
that Abdoulai Sallah after retiring with absolute disgrace as ambassador has
accepted another ministerial position from Yaya? No wonder with all the clear
evidence seen the civil community is still sheepishly appealing to Yaya the
number one orchestrator of the killing of Ousman Koro Ceesay to investigate the
case and tell them what they have certainly known already. Is that not
something? The soldiers should continue to pray hoping that time would show the clear
truth. But I am still looking forward to that special day when the remains of
our colleagues are removed from the back of the toilets of Yundum and paraded
with honour before given the peaceful burial they honestly deserve. The
Gambian constitution will be rectified to cover all of the soldiers dead or alive
and will ensure that such things would never be entertained in our midst again.
If soldiers are killed again under any circumstances, our families must get
the bodies and we would lay our lives to stop any bastard trying to bury us
behind toilets of our own barracks. Sorry to say, but for the moment any of you
out there could end up in those shallow graves at Yundum Barracks. .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~