COUP
IN GAMBIA TWO

I could not wait for the weekend to come to get into
the second part of my coup series. Different readers
asked some questions, but I realized that answering
them up front could derail the gradual consistency I
intend to maintain in this narrative. Anyway I just
want to assure you that nothing will be left out by
the time I am through with everything. If by then
however people feel there are still some gray areas
not well understood, then we could treat those
together.
However, if it comes to doubts over what I already
wrote about, or immediate clarifications needed on
certain dubious statements, or still, on characters,
events dates or activities inaccurately mentioned, I
would be glad to handle those issues right away.
One of such observations I received privately from a
gentleman was his disagreement with the statement I
made about Sir Dawda Jawara's absence from the country
when the GNA was faced with its command crisis in
1994. The gentleman demanded that I withdrew my
statement that Sir Dawda was on leave in London,
because it was an insinuation from me that the
president abandoned the nation at the heat of the
crisis just for a holiday. He then added that the
president actually had left the Gambia to attend an
OAU meeting in Algeria. After that he had had series
of engagements in London among which was a meeting he
had attended with the "Siemens" regarding the new
airport project at Yundum. Then he had to attend a
dinner-meeting by Charter 150; he was also the guest
of honor at the Royal Agricultural show where he
delivered the key note address and finally had to
attend a tourism-promotion meeting.
Certainly I did not know all about that and I wish to
urge everybody to disregard my former statement in
that particular paragraph and replace it with the real
truth as indicated by this gentleman. I was going to
forward the text openly but I think I know the person
and would not have been fair with him by doing so.
That mail was meant to be private and so did I treat
it as one.
Nevertheless, I want to go on records in saying that
where Sir Dawda had been or how important or
unimportant his mission abroad was at the time was not
the concern I tried to raise in my article. After all
every hard working man like Sir Dawda used to be known
for deserve to take an occasional break and rest his
nerves at a place of his choice. There was nothing
wrong therefore in Sir Dawda taking his leave and
spending it at London if he was due for one. To crown
it all I was insinuating nothing after all.
 My simple argument was derived from the
1981-Kukoi-historical event juxtaposed against that of
Yaya's in 1994 which left me baffled by how similar
the two events were and how the same mistake was
committed twice by the PPP government. If, let us say,
Sir Dawda was somehow aware of the security threat in
the country in 1981 but had chosen to attend the royal
wedding of Prince Charles and the late Lady Diane in
London until kukoi struck during his absence, one
could for the sake of first time human error, brush it
aside as an unexpected phenomenon but preventable in
the future by all means. So when the same signs and
symptoms reappeared again signaling command crisis in
the security forces in 1994, the president should have
been given an honest briefing of the fragile
situation, warning him to know that there was no
presidential engagement more important at the time, in
the country or abroad, than giving the problem top
priority. It should have been made crystal to the
president that what had happened in 1981 could again
happen if the situation was not addressed promptly I
don't think Sir Dawda would have moved an inch out of
the country if he had been given the true picture.
That was the point I was rubbing in.
This brings back the importance of a national security
crisis management organ that I believe should have
been in place to deal with such emergencies. In that
case if one or two officials could not muster the
courage to put it to the president honestly and
sincerely then the organ (or board) will do it on
perhaps constitutional guidelines. But leaving matters
of national security in the hands of few men who did
not know "A" from "Z" about what they were doing was
at best treasonable.
In the first instance, it was a pity that men like
Kebba Ceesay the Director General of the National
Security Service (NSS), now the same Director General
of the NIA was primarily responsible for the nation's
top intelligence service. And the same devils and
extortionists like Foday Barry were the top agents
around him fabricating lies upon lies just to keep
their agency alive. Is that not what these same fools
are doing today for the APRC government? It's a
fantastic sign for some of us who know better where
they are dragging Yaya's tail to.
Likewise the main national security adviser was one
civilian Nigerian who had no clue about the Field
Force and Kukoi. This man whose name I will try to
remember later had no idea about what it should take
to stabilize or defend the country. He was very close
to the Nigerian military officers in the army and
therefore could not have in anyway honestly advice the
government against what they were doing wrong in the
country. There was no way this man could for example
raise the alarm to the president about the negative
alteration of the balance of power caused by the
Nigerian training team between the GNA and the
Gendarmarie/ Tactical Support Group (TSG). That
tactical error was in fact the cardinal factor behind
the success of the coup.
 It could be remembered that in the last demonstration
of soldiers from Liberia demanding the payment of
their last allowances, it was the TSG that took over
Denton Bridge before the soldiers on rampage traveled
from Yundum to Banjul with their weapons. The creation
of that force by the Senegalese, insulating it by all
standards to march the GNA technically and tactically
was a perfect deterrent to coups organized by either
forces. That was one strategic secret the Senegalese
left us and should have never been compromised in
anyway, even by military advisers from planet Mars.
The Senegalese may have been lousy in many ways during
the confederation; we could label them annoying,
arrogant, difficult or too complicated for our
understanding; but hey, lets give the devil his due.
When it comes to modern security arrangement for
national stability, they are awesome and second to
none in the sub-region.
Anyhow the Nigerians came and changed that secret
formation, right before every one's eyes. Within a
short time after their arrival, the GNA got sufficient
supplies of certain heavy arsenals far superior to
what the TSG had in their armory, a dangerous reality
that left some of us wondering why the government
allowed it. Many top government officials were aware
of it but showed nothing to indicate that it even
bothered them. But again let us not forget that Kebba
Ceesay the current Director General of Yaya's
notorious NIA was the main National security anchor of
the PPP government.
You see, I think we should document all these facts
somewhere for posterity especially with regards to the
country's future security arrangements which was and
is still not up to satisfactory standard.
Bad security arrangement is without doubt the greatest
threat to its people and government that it is built
to protect. And it is equally or even more destructive
to its own active serving personnel. Good armies do
not have room for its soldiers to even think about
demonstrations let alone coups.
Generally speaking on a wider horizon I have always
maintained that if African soldiers were to come
forward and tell the hidden truth about their
senseless suffering in the form of arbitrary arrests,
torture, killing and other terrible things associated
with coups, then our soldiers would have long since
done away with the thought of the misadventure by
simply reading the madness it constitutes. But is it
not something that the GNA even never had a library?
But just imagine for example if a well informed
Burkinabe soldiers had written the uncensored story of
the late Captain Sankara, a one time coup hero and a
highly decorated soldier who ended being executed by
his most trusted friends and buried in an unmarked
mass grave. What about General Mutala Muhamed of
Nigeria another coup hero shot and killed by aimless
drunken soldiers who were few days later shot by
firing squad; General Achempong of Ghana summarily
executed by Rawlings and his gang of coup makers;
Captain Valentine Strasser killing more innocent
soldiers and police officers than the RUF did in the
battlefield and then ending up in irreparable
destitution. He was more loaded with diamond money
than any one could imagine. Although Yaya thinks
looted money is meat to stay forever. We will see.
What about Samuel Doe who was fond of telling his men
that nothing could kill him and the way he was
horribly mutilated after about eighty of his men were
all killed in cold blood at one location.  And with
Yaya now assessed to be a very close carbon copy of
Doe tells his foolish subjects that an African
president cannot be killed in power, giving Nino
Vierra of Bissau as his only example. Despite the
latest killings of Mainasara and Kabila (one time
heroes taking power by the gun), Yaya still tells his
idiotic followers that a president cannot be killed in
office to the cheering and jubilation of all of them.
Think about all these stories printed and circulated
in military institutions for soldiers of all ranks,
young or old to read and understand. Don't you thing
it could in finding a cure to the coup insanity in the
continent?
However the fact that coups have been continuing to
happen despite its disastrous consequences to its
organizers and their followers tells me that the
necessary positive measures to stop them is yet to be
found and put in place. It is therefore the
responsibility of civilians and soldiers alike to do
everything possible to free society of this cancerous
nightmare. Among the positive first steps in my
shortlist I think we should start from the
documentation of every coup that had happened and how
it affected the people in every way.
 The madness is unimaginable. Soldiers who on the
ordinary are nothing but cowards, sadists, and losers
taking over from the good ones is the worst kind of
command disaster. Bad soldiers killing good soldiers
like dogs and nothing coming out of it underscores the
horrors of coup. The poor civilians also suffer it in
the worst way.  Yaya butchered Gambian soldiers and
buried them in toilet ditches while their family
members still wish they could get the remains of their
loved ones and give them decent burials. Yaya killed
Koro Ceesay; Almamo Manneh and Corporal Dumbuya; and
then ordered the shooting and killing of 14 armless
young Gambians; and Yaya is still hell bent to shed
more Gambian blood. But it is time to let him know
that enough is enough. God is not sleeping.
Anyhow what I see in the Gambia today tells me that
Yaya's best bet is to pray for the October general
elections to find him there; in that way he could
easily find an exit to avoid becoming victim of his
own creation. Rigging an election, one way or the
other, be it in the form of his latest trick to
re-register new voters with a master plan to include
the Cassamance rebels/refugees or denying opposition
members their registration rights will only make
things worst for him. (It is today an open secret in
The Gambia that Ablie Kujabi's (NIA number two man)
house in Bakau has been transformed into an office
issuing Gambian I.D. cards to Cassamance
rebel/refugees. When the Director of immigration
Faburay was asked about why Gambian I.D. cards were
issued in private homes, he said there was nothing
wrong with that.). However Samuel Doe at one time
during the Liberian conflict was offered a helicopter
passage by the Americans to leave the country when
there was still an opportunity for escape, but he
defied every offer, blinded by his satanic mind and
evil followers. I am today putting it to Yaya to take
the helicopter now and leave while there is still
time; otherwise, otherwise, otherwise … There will be
no running or hiding and most of his terrible
followers will perish with him.
Going back to July 1994 let us first look at the role
of the Americans. The training program that was
supposed to take place between the GNA and the
Americans was going to be the third of its kind since
it was started in 1990. Yes it was a biannual exercise
between the American Navy and the GNA first held
around Yundum and Lamin villages in 1990, the second
one in Yundum area again in 1992 and this was going to
be the third, scheduled for the 23rd of July 1994 from
the Kombos to Denton Bridge. The rehearsal day was
Friday 22nd July. We even wrote a press release about
the training exercise in which Gambians were advised
not to be alarmed when soldiers were seen in unusual
appearance and outfits in the urban streets.
That press release announced over radio Gambia for at
least two to three days before the set date and was in
all news papers, helped the country a great deal from
being hit by the same crime wave that erupted in 1981
when the criminals learnt about kukoi's coup attempt.
And most likely 1994 would have been worst considering
the fact that there were more hardened criminals in
the country with all sorts of rebels from Liberia,
Sierra Leone to Cassamance. At that broad day light if
it was suspected that a coup and not an exercise was
in progress, the country would have never recovered
from those animals unleashed on her people and
resources.
Yet the retarded Yaya is often heard boasting about
the skills he applied to ensure that the coup was
bloodless. All are bunch of lies.
The American Navy called their visiting exercise the
West-African-Training Cruise (WAT-C). In 1994, their
program involved Senegal, The Gambia and Bissau. All
three countries were donated new fast patrol boats for
maritime policing against foreign poachers in their
territorial waters. Senegal had two. The Gambia and
Bissau got one each.  But when the boats were
delivered months before, some of its components were
missing including spare parts communication equipment
and mountable weaponry. The huge battleship, the USS
Lamour County brought along some of those equipment
and weapons. As part of the program therefore, they
came with instructors to also train the African crew
in how to use the new equipment and maintain them
properly.
All the countries had to send a naval officer to the
USA to join the Ship from its departing dock. The
travel time to West Africa was roughly one month. The
GNA's representative was Lieutenant Commander Mahmoud
Sarr, the present commander of the Gambia Navy.
When they arrived on the 21st of July around 4.00
p.m., I was at the Banjul Port to welcome them
together with James Knight the political officer at
the US Embassy in The Gambia and Major McClain the US
military attaché for Senegal, Bissau and the Gambia.
After being introduced to Captain Bookhart the ship's
captain Mr. Knight briefed the visitors in a hall-like
place in the lower deck telling them how peaceful the
country was and how it is rated one of the most stable
places in Africa.
The Americans contrary to what people had been saying
about the negative role they played in the coup were
the most disappointed and frustrated by its success.
Mr. Knight said it all to the visitors when he told
them that apart from its seasoned democratic policy in
a continent plague by coups and civil wars, The Gambia
was a model state in terms of social stability,
friendliness among its people and reasonable in cost
of living. The American crew could not wait to go on
shore after the briefing. There was among them a
platoon of marines all excited about the exercise we
were to hold with them.
By the way it is important to know that Captain
Bookhart was an African American, very humble and
gentle. To think about that person involving himself
in anything as stupid as a conspiracy to topple the
PPP government for Yaya and his fellow criminals to
come to power borders to absolute insanity.
Yaya the master liar has been trying to sell some
craps about the Americans making him a citizen in a
bid to deceive the Gambians into thinking that the US
supported the coup.
Let me tell you where he manufactured that foolish
idea. This is not only about Gambia, but also as a US
training policy for every foreigner attending any
military institution in an American state. Upon the
student's arrival in the US and few weeks after
registration and orientation, the person is awarded an
honorary citizenship to that particular state. That
did not necessarily qualify any one as US citizen per
se. But its Yaya we are dealing with. Give him an
honorary degree in law and the next thing you know he
is claiming to be a barrister, magistrate and high
court judge rolled in one; give him an honorary
peacekeeping medal and he claims to be a war hero who
conquered the unconquerable; so it is no surprise that
the honorary citizenship awarded from different states
to over a dozen GNA officers including my very self
for training in the US means US citizenship to funny
Yaya.
Anyhow it was around 6.00 p.m. when I left the port to
go home that day. The program of events on the visit
was in my hands slated to commence 9.00 a.m. the
following morning. It was to start with a courtesy
call to the vice president's office by the ship's
captain and his top officials. From there they were to
visit the mayor of Banjul, James Gomez, then the
inspector general of police Pa Sallah Jagne and then
to the army headquarters where Colonel Akojie the
third in command among the Nigerians was playing the
role of commander and trying to make the situation as
normal as he could.
In the mean time however, what I did not know at the
time was that at Yundum Airport that same evening,
21st July the same Colonel Akojie had made another
serious blunder which gave Edward Singhateh and Sana
Sabally the final weapon they wanted to mobilize the
GNA troops at Yundum for the coup the next morning.
When the GNA soldiers assembled at the Airport for the
guard of honor usually given to the president on his
departure or arrival, Colonel Akojie in consultation
with Kebba Ceesay unnecessarily humiliated all the
soldiers and officers at the airport tarmac by
searching all of them one by one to see whether they
were concealing ammunitions they may use against the
president. That was very embarrassing while the
diplomats who came to welcome the president stood
watching.  Not only that but they also deployed the
TSG troops all over the area to frighten the GNA
soldiers with their ordinary AK47 rifles. Every
soldier searched that afternoon was automatically
tagged a suspect making that person vulnerable to the
final dirty trick pulled on them by Sana and Edward
the following morning. Hence when the soldiers
reported to work the next day hoping to go for the
exercise rehearsal with the US troops, Sana and Edward
scared  them by saying that the Nigerians were
planning to arrest all of them for being suspects of a
coup plot. That fired up most soldiers into a
do-or-die mood. It therefore turned into either taking
part in whatever rampage was necessary or faced the
risk of being arrested by the Nigerians who should be
forced to leave the country anyway.
There were a lot of them who did not want to take
part. The late Lieutenant Gibril Saye was one of them
and they knew they could not have done much without
his support. He was the best when it came to
assembling, loading and operating the heavy weapons.
So they first put him in the cells, but when they
realized that he was indispensable, they took him out
and pleaded with him to help assemble the weapons
only. He refused to join them when they started moving
out for the operation.
There was no doubt that if the soldiers were not
subjected to that humiliation at the airport tarmac
the coup would have never been possible. The original
planners had withdrawn from the agreement. Some
soldiers I later understood had even reported it to
the Nigerians, the police and some top civil servants.
As a matter of fact the Nigerians and Kebba Ceesay the
joke were the people left with the investigation. I
guess they thought all the GNA officers were suspects.
However on a frank note, none of us the Gambian senior
officers knew what was happening. But let me amend
that. Instead I should say that I was never aware of a
coup until that morning of the 22nd July at about
9.00a.m. I did not even know about the tension created
at the airport until well after the coup.
But as it happened Captain Bookhart and his team
accompanied by Mr. Andrew Winters the US ambassador in
the Gambia at the time, Mr. Knight, Major McClain (he
is a colonel now) and I just arrived at the State
House for the first event of the program of visit when
an officer called me aside and inform me of the Yundum
soldiers on their way to Banjul to topple the
government. For a split moment I thought it was all a
dream and wished I would soon wake up and make a fun
of the worries that hit me.
Anyway I had to tell the officer to allow me some time
to escort the guests upstairs to the vice president's
office.
Mr. Saihou Sabally with the permanent secretary for
defense was waiting for us at the door of the office.
He first welcomed the guests and told them what was
going on.

We will deal with that next week.

Ebou Colly.
.


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