EDITORIAL
REMEMBERING NOVEMBER 11 MURDERED GAMBIAN SOLDIERS-YAHYA ON HIS WAY OUT OF
POWER
November 11, 2005
Families of the November 11, 1994, alleged abortive coup are today
mourning their loved ones who were summarily executed in grand style by
the Jammeh administration. Scores of Gambian soldiers were said to have
been buried in mass graves on the day in question. They were accused of
trying to topple a military junta called the Armed Forces Provisional
Ruling Council, which was headed at the time by Chairman Yahya Jammeh.

Highly placed sources in the Jammeh administration hinted that some of the
alleged coupists, such as Lieutenant Bassiru Barrow and LT.Dot Faal were
buried alive after been exposed to brutal torture by their captives. Most
of the murdered soldiers were rounded up at their respective homes, which
prompted right thinking minded Gambians to question the truthfulness of
the government story about an alleged coup plot. The murdered soldiers
were denied their constitutional guaranteed rights to defend such bogus
charges brought against them by the current dictatorship. Instead, the
government decided to take the law into its own hands by executing these
soldiers.

Gambians have good reasons to doubt the regime's coup story, since they
failed to observe the rule of law. The government action contravenes our
national laws, which clearly states that "people accused of crimes are
perceived innocent, until proven guilty." In the case of the November 11,
incident, the accused persons were pronounced guilty by Jammeh, the
commander in chief, who also doubles as chief justice. The action of this
government against these murdered soldiers is a gross violations of The
Gambian constitution and other international protocols, which Yahya Jammeh
himself signed.

Hiding in the name of indemnity Acts, will not save Jammeh, Edward,
Yankuba, rude boy Sabally and whoever is named in this "genocide"
perpetrated against our men in uniform. Yahya had denied the said soldiers
right to live and fair trial. Yahya had also denied sons and daughters of
these murdered soldiers, the right to parental care and counselling. Some
of these kids cannot remember their murdered parents, as they were young
at the time. Thanks to the media and historians, they will today have an
idea about what led to the killing of their Dads. November 11, was indeed
a black day in the history of The Gambia. The culture of killings and
disappearances started on the day in question under Yahya's rule.

Military coup are illegal in all its form. It is morally and
constitutionally wrong for a government that come through the barrel of
the gun to react in such harsh and ruthless manner against its colleagues.
Why hurriedly executing these soldiers without observing the rule of law?
Yahya, remember, the evil that men do, do live after them. A day will
come, you will be held accountable for the atrocities you perpetrated
against The Gambian public. Please take note of this. Witnesses are
available to throw light on the murder of these soldiers.

The most disturbing part of the November 11, massacres was the mass burial
of our young soldiers. Yahya Jammeh himself cannot tell us the number of
soldiers who perished in that shooting incident. Hear escapee Lieutenant
Benneh Minteh in this statement" If I should tell you that, I can give the
list of all soldiers killed, then I'm lying. But I can tell you the names
of officers summarily executed. Number one, LT. Bassiru Barrow, he is gone
and gone forever, LT.Abdoulie Dot Faal, LT.Gibril Saye, Second LT.Momodou
Lamin Darboe, Second LT.Bakary Manneh, Second LT.Buba Jammeh, officer
cadet Sillah, Lance Corporal Basiru Camara, one Warrant officer from
Ballangarr." Chei! What a revealing testimony made by Minteh.

It is time for the bereaved families including LT.Minteh, who survived
this heinous crime to consider registering cases at the International
court of Justice or the United Nations War crime court to seek justice.
The murder of these soldiers cannot be left unchallenged. We are against
the way and manner the regime handled the incident. There is no
justification for such inhumane act.

This government is in the business of killing innocent Gambians. Just
imagine, the mass murder of defenceless students who embarked on a
peaceful demonstration on April 10TH, 2000. 14 kids and radio journalist
Omar Barrow were murdered in broad day light by Yahya's trigger happy
soldiers. These and many other cases still remains unresolved. As Benneh,
rightly stated, there are many Gambians, who are prepared to testify
against Yahya and his government in the event of any enquiry in the near
future. These cases should be investigated in the interest of justice.

Exiled former AFPRC number two man Sanna Sabally, was said to have been
very instrumental in the killings of these soldiers. Sabally was said to
have murdered some of the senior army officers. This was the chap who
hurriedly went on air to announce the alleged foiled coup, which he said
resulted in the deaths of some soldiers. However, Sabally could not tell
Gambians the number of soldiers killed on the day in question. While
Sabally claimed that the alleged rebel soldiers were over powered by the
loyal forces, he also maintains that the soldiers were bent on over
throwing the new military government headed by Jammeh.

Interestingly, shortly after his arrest together with the late junta
Interior Minister Sadibou Hydara, President Jammeh said both Sabally and
Hydara had hands in the November 11, alleged foiled coup. He called it at
the time "The Sabally and Hydara factor on November 11." Jammeh insists
that the two were behind the said plot to over throw his government. Now
the rest is history. Hydara is death, while disgraced Sabally is yet to be
granted sanctuary overseas. His past persecution records will certainly
disqualify him from being granted sanctuary by the West. We hope and pray
that the Senegalese government will hand him over if needed by the
International Court. Sabally must face justice. He is a murderer and have
no place in civilised society. He should be brought to book.

Having said this, we want to assure the bereaved families that justice
will be meted out to Yahya and his accomplices sooner or later. Such a
high profile crime cannot go unpunished. This regime is being hunted by
the atrocities it had committed against The Gambian people. Yahya had
destroyed the fabric of society in The Gambia.

As we told him the other day, he lived on "Jangfa and he will end in
Jangfa." The people he is disowning today, used to dine and do things with
him. They were Yahya's errand boys. They executed all kinds of dirty
errands for the Kanilai man. But today, Yahya is accusing Samba Bah of
terrorism, spying and economic crimes. In all fairness, such charges fits
Yahya better, who is in the business of terrorising Gambians.

As families paid tribute to their loved ones today, we are urging the
international community to mount pressure on the repressive Jammeh
government to respect the rights and freedoms of Gambians. We are also
demanding an enquiry into the killings of these soldiers. If Rwanda can
dig into cases of "genocide" why not The Gambia? Witnesses to November 11
incident should be encouraged to speak out. The more evidence we have, the
better it will be. We need the likes of Benneh Minteh, in the emerging new
Gambia. Minteh, is a very useful witness.

Yahya, should not be surprised if his current government should testify
against him in the future. Some of his own Ministers are piss off with him
and are just serving to avoid being harassed. Some openly complained about
Yahya's madness and never hide their feelings on the current governance
crisis. Yahya, be ready to face the international court of Justice. Do you
have an attorney to represent you? Come rain, come shine, we will drag you
there soon. We condemn the brutal killing of these soldiers. They deserve
to live, like any other Gambian. The action taken by this government to
deny them the right to live is a crime against humanity. 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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