Mr. Colly,

Thanks for another great insight into the mind of a very evil person. Mr.
Kujabi's adjoiner is also very relevant. One of our major  tasks is to
reason with our brothers in the army, and make them realize that Yaya Jammeh
is only using them for his evil designs. Thus, our uniformed brothers and
sisters have more to gain by adhering to, and defending the constitution,
and not letting themselves be used as tools by someone like Yaya Jammeh.
Despite the obvious military character of this govt to this day, our men in
uniform remain some of the lowest-paid, poorly-fed, and most abused segment
of the govt machinery. If anything, the Farafenni Attack has demonstrated
the fact that Yaya couldn't care less how many young people in uniform are
slaughtered, as long as his agenda (subtle or obvious,) is being served.
That whole Farafenni tragedy was avoidable. And the sorry state of the
majority of our uniformed brothers need not be.

A friend of mine just came back from the Gambia last week. I was surprised
to hear from him, because we've had a very strained relationship these past
few years. You see, the fellow's first cousin (older brother in Gambian) is
one of Yaya Jammeh's MPs. And since I can't resist hilighting the
criminality of this regime, and the complicity of so-called "respectable"
people like my friend's brother in this on-going crime against our people,
our relationship has been reduced to the occasional exchange of niceties,
pleasantries, etc. So I was a little taken aback, when he called me as soon
as he got home. As it turned out, he was so disgusted with what he saw that,
he got into a heated argument with his big brother about "what they're doing
to our country" (to quote him exactly.)

To hilight the abuse/misuse of the armed forces, he told me that they now
even have the army guarding some night clubs! I said "what?" He said, "you
better believe it." But that's not all. He told me that on several
occasions, he left a night club around 3:30am with others. He said between
Kotu and Churchill's Town, he would be stopped at least three times at
random army check-points. And at every stop, he had to dole out some money,
because the guys were frank with him that they simply can't survive on what
they pay them. It's was always the same routine he said:"Where's your ID?;
But this is not a Gambian ID; Do you know that you're violating the law?
We'll have to arrest you; OK, I'll have to talk to my boss; Alright just
give us what you have -things are really tough here." And the never-failing
voluntary advice:"Don't come here to stay Father; All they're doing is
killing us with empty promises, big lies; there's nothing here; etc, etc"
This is the urban story.

He said he tried to drive to the Basse area with his brother's car, and he
had to give up, because at many points, the only passable parts of the road
are right near people's compound gates. It's either that, or driving on the
wrong side (left) of the road, because the right side is impassable. So, he
decided to take the first bus to Basse. He said it seems as if there's some
check-point every thirty miles or so on the way to Basse. Right by Bwiam, he
said he almost got into real trouble. Some handicapped old lady was sitting
next to him. And the four army guys who stopped the bus were shouting that
EVERYBODY get down, and pull out their ID cards. The old lady stayed put.
One of them hollered that she get down. The old lady said she's tired of
getting down because of her condition, and that anyone who can't tell that
she's Gambian by her looks, isn't a Gambian himself. But one of the guys
insisted she come down. Ma Boy intervened and tried to reason with the
brother. "Dong be 'tupit; are you tryin to tell me my job?; you tink I dong
know my job? you tryin to sho me you have edukason? or that you're from
E-rope; I can arrest you rite now and nobody can help you, etc, etc." He
couldn't wait to get back to his big brother.

Like Pa Dacosta, my friend's conscience couldn't let him excuse or
rationalize what's going on anymore. So, he let big brother have it. And
told him in clear terms that as long as he's with Yaya Jammeh, big brother
might as well count him out of his relatives. So, it wasn't a happy camper
who called me last week to say that "almost everything" we say here about
this criminal govt is true. And he said we're only telling half the story
(he didn't elaborate.) I've never spoken to anyone who is so angry at
his/her kin for siding with Yaya Jammeh. What do you think I said? "Welcome
to the real Human Race Boy!" is all I said. That's one less person who
thinks people like myself are only criticizing Yaya out of envy and
jealousy.

But the bottom line here is that Yaya is using the army to do his dirty job
for him. Through very inhumane orders, he's pitting them against their own
civilian kin, and anytime things get out of control, he steps in to play the
Good Guy. Small fries in the army get blamed for just carrying out orders.
So, we need to communicate to our brothers in uniform that, they have no
obligation to follow criminal orders. Civilians are their own people. And
their lot is no better off than the average civilian. Therefore, they should
stop letting themselves be used
by a group of common criminals, whose designs are nothing but evil. And when
it comes down to it, they should obey and side with the people.

Good morning!

Saul.



>
>
>>From: ebou colly <[log in to unmask]>
>>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
>><[log in to unmask]>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: FARAFENNI ATTACK TWO
>>Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2001 07:43:09 -0700
>>
>>                                            FARAFENNI
>>ATTACK TWO
>>Before getting back into my main theme, "THE FARAFENNI
>>ATTACH," I would like to take a moment to first salute
>>all those great activists of the G-L especially those
>>great allies who sent me welcome notes- K.B (Kebba
>>Dampha to be more precise), Ansumana Kujabi, Saul Khan
>>the dynamic MOVEMENT FOR RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY IN

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