Culled from The Independent:

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The Independent Published Monday, 14 August, 2000  
 
 Following Arson Attack On Radio 1FM
GEORGE CHRISTENSEN EXPLAINS
  
 Radio 1 FM proprietor George Christensen has explained circumstances surrounding the brutal arson attack on his station in the early hours of last Thursday and said he believed the attackers were not only out to burn, but to kill. 

Speaking in an exclusive interview, George told The Independent that he was working on his computer on Thursday until around 3 a.m. when he heard some shouting. 'The shouting grew louder and louder and I opened my office door to the corridor to find out what was going on.' He said the moment he opened the main door, he was sprayed with a powerful gas. 'I rushed back inside and poured water on my face and head then rushed back to the scene. I found my watchman Musa Krubally furiously fighting with the attackers. Two of the assailants managed to enter the premises and poured a 20-litre gallon of fuel on the floor. One of the assailants, a short medium-built man lit a match and threw it on the floor saying to me, "I will kill you" and they ran away.' 

George said he kicked the blazing gallon with his bare foot, sustaining burns in the process, forced his way out and shouted for help because his condition was terrible. He said some people came to assist him and that was when he was first taken to Kairaba police station to report the matter, and later taken by police escort to the MRC clinic at Fajara where he was admitted.

Mr. Christensen said he had been alerted two days before that some people were planning to attack his radio station and that he had reported the matter to a senior army officer. 'If they wanted to destroy the station, they could have come with hammers and smashed it; but they came with fire to kill us,' he declared. He said one of his staff, Alieu Bah, alias Mix Master, had also received a letter threatening to burn his house, but fortunately when they went to carry out their threat, they found only his wife and baby asleep in the room and changed their minds. He quoted the letter as saying: 'Alieu Bah, you got your mouth and radio to talk about people's private lives but we got our power to destroy you. We could have finished you yesterday at 3 Am. but...'

Asked whether he had any suspicions over the attackers and their motive, Mr. Christensen said, 'we all know in The Gambia but we won't say it.'

He said the matter has been reported to the police, the NIA and the Justice department but that this attack would not prevent his radio from broadcasting and that in fact it will make him stand more firmly than before.

George's wife, Mrs. Mary Samba Christensen, said her husband called her from the MRC and told her that they and their station had been attacked by unknown assailants. 'He told me on the phone that he had sustained burns and had been hospitalised.' Mrs. Christensen, a lawyer by profession, said investigations are going on and that she would make sure that the assailants, if found, are brought to book. 'We are not taking this matter lightly,' she added.

Modou Thomas, head of the News and Current Affairs department at Radio 1 FM described the incident as unfortunate. He said recently, a letter was sent to them threatening George and demanding why he had shouted on Fatoumatta Jahumpha Ceesay, director of press and public relations at State House on the Sunday Newshour programme of August 6th. 'I wanted to show it to George, but I decided to keep it and wait for the next Sunday Newshour to read it out,' he said. 

An eye-witness at the scene said in the early hours of Thursday morning, he saw an unnumbered brand new pick-up van packing in front of Extension 1 telecentre. 'It was full of youths who jumped down and marched towards Radio 1 FM,' he said adding that a few minutes later, there was a fire at the station.

An almost completely burnt out empty gallon of fuel was found on the scene of the attack. 

Copyright 2000 QuantumNET

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