Gambia-L:
The e-mail below, as usual, has come from one of my sources in the Gambia.
Ebrima
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Hello Ebrima,
Sorry you could not hear from me since yesterday owing to some office
assignments I needed to complete. But I have now finished everything and
therefore I should be sending you more postings tonight and by tomorrow
afternoon. Ebrima, there is a lot going on in the country and a lot to
report about for that matter. Zainab, as you all know, has delivered a baby
in the US, but because Yahya is clear is his heart and mind that the baby is
not his, but that of ADC Paul Sambou, he is behaving as if his wife has not
just delivered a baby at all. Ebrima, because of the guilt in him, the
Kanilai dictator has told his aids that he wants everything relating to
Zainab's delivery to be a low-key affair; he is even refusing to see
well-wishers who are coming to congratulate him on the birth of his "first
baby". And now, another dilemma they are having is whether or not to release
Paul Sambou. They fear that if Paul is released, he'll disclose to the
Gambian public that he was interrogated and detained in connection with
Zainab's pregnancy. So, Ebrima, I for one do not think that they will ever
release Paul because of the fear that he will reveal the whole truth
surrounding his arrest and interrogation. And in another development, we
have now laid hands on the minutes of the Emergency Cabinet Meeting in which
Mrs Isatou Njie-Saidy stated categorically that Yahya had instructed her to
ask the Soldiers to use live bullets on the demonstrating school children.
According to the minutes, Yahya is even quoted as having said that because
of the fact that the Paramilitary was "ill equipped", the Army should be
called in to deal with the situation. We have also got a copy of the
original speech Yahya should have read upon his return to Gambia from Cuba
on the tragic events of 10 April. Ebrima, in this speech which was withheld
in the end, he was insulting the students and their parents, calling them
all sorts of names. However, when Dr Sedat Jobe saw it, he told the dictator
that if he, Jammeh, were to read that speech on TV, it would do more harm
than good. It was Sedat who prevailed upon him not read that speech; and it
was also Sedat who wrote the second speech which he (Jammeh) finally read,
in which he (Jammeh) was using the name of Allah a lot. Ebrima, we have now
got all these documents at our disposal and we are ready to send them
anonymously to those Gambians overseas groups with Web Pages. So I am asking
these groups to send their postal addresses on the L or through you so that
we can send them these documents anonymously. Meanwhile, the pressure being
exerted on the regime is continuing both at home and abroad. In fact, the
Commonwealth Action Group plans to send a strong delegation to the butcher
to express concern over the deteriorating political situation in the Gambia.
But being the sulking dictator he is, he is still threatening that he would
not receive the Commonwealth delegation, but Dr Sedat Jobe is telling him
that that would be a bad PR for the Government. You know, Sedat knows his
weaknesses; in fact, it was Sedat who mediated between him and Omar Bongo
some time ago when the two Presidents had problems. By the way, the butcher
is now a good friend of President Omar Bongo. Bongo gives him money through
Sedat. Ebrima, Bongo is up to something but that is not clear to me so far.
By the way, the Senegalese media is "very critical" of Sedat Jobe these
days. When Abdoulaye Wade accused Sedat and Yahya Jammeh of going to Libya a
lot in order to collect arms for the Casamance rebels, Sedat gave series of
interviews to the Senegalese media refuting Wade's allegations. And his
(Sedat's) side of the story was well publicised in Senegal because the Media
in Senegal liked him. Sedat taught at Dakar University in those days and he
was also an interpreter for ex-President Senghore. In fact, it was Senghore
who helped him through Amadou Mactarr Mbow to get a job with UNESCO in
France. So because of his "french connection", the Senegalese media liked
him. In fact they clearly supported him against their President, Wade. But
after the shooting incident in Polodi in which a Guinea Bissau soldier was
killed, the Senegalese Media lost every trust in him (Sedat) because he had
earlier on denied to them that there were no Guinea Bissau soldiers in the
Gambia. Now when Abdoulaye Wade was scheduled to have a "peace" meeting in
Libya with Yahya Jammeh last Month under the chairmanship of Gaddafi, Yahya
however did not make the trip because he alleged that Mustapha Niasse had
not allowed his (Jammeh's) plane to fly over Senegal's air space. Wade then
phoned Niasse from Libya to find out who gave the orders for Yahya Jammeh's
plane not to be allowed to fly over Senegal. In response Niasse told Wade
that Yahya was lying; that no one stopped him from flying his plane through
Senegal. At this point, Ebrima, Sedat wanted to intervene, as usual, to
defend his boss, but this time around the Senegalese media snubbed him
completely. So they have now lost faith in him since he (Sedat) had lied to
them that there were no Guinea Bissau soldiers in the Gambia. Ebrima, I
better sign off, but I should be sending you articles later.
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