Dampha, I agree with you except for the "go underground bit." Under no circumstances should Darbo go underground! I'm still pissed at him for running to the Senegalese embassy back in '96. For the life of me, I cannot farthom why any true leader would do that. Darbo should stand his ground, and dare these suckers to touch him. If they want an all-out war, let's have it. This savagery has to stop! These people are out of control because any time they use thuggery, Darbo and co play nice. That needs to stop! This may sound selfish 'cause I'm far away from the scene, and advocating tit-for-tat, but god knows I'll do exactly what I'm preaching if I ever become a Darbo/Amat Bah, etc. One's manhood has to count for something! Sorry to say this, but I have very little respect for/patience with "leaders" who balk when the going gets tough. Darbo SHOULD NOT LEAVE Basse Polica Station without ALL his people. If they want to let him go, and hold unto others, he should simply decline their offer. Nelson Mandela had done it! And regarding pleading, he needs to look at any magistrate/Police cmdr in the eye, and tell him to go to hell. It is universally understood and accepted that a person has a right to self defence! These people were attacked for merely exercising their god-given right. If anyone is to be prosecuted here, it should be the thugs who accosted them. So, some punk ass died in the process of them defending themselves, too bad. If these govt-sanctioned thugs had not tried to kill innocent people, none of this will happen. BTW, I hope the s.o.b. rots in hell. This Alieu Njie character deserves what he got. A punk ass is a punk ass - dead or alive! And coming to the role of Baba Jobe and his "brother," let me tell you a little story about them. You see Baba Jobe and Modou Soma (not Sama) Jobe are from the same cloth as Fatumata Jahumpa. Both Jobes owe everything they have to the PPP establishment. But, contrary to popular notion, the two are not that closely related. They're cousins. Baba Jobe's father, the late Alh. Kajali Jobe was the PPP area chairman in West Jarra. That man worshipped Alh. Yaya Ceesay, the local MP. In return, he was awarded public contracts by the PWD in Mansakonko from the 60s until his death in the late 70s. He also went to Mecca thanks to that same patronage. Remember the first public buses that came to Gambia = GLAPTC. Well, that cosy relationship between Jawara and Ghaddafi generated scholarships for the Gambia. Around '76, Libya offered the Gambia some scholarships. The PPP elite dished it out to the children of their cronies. In West Jarra, Yaya Ceesay gave the two he had to the sons of some of his most loyal supporters. Guess who got one of them? Yes, Baba Jobe, son of Kajali Jobe! Baba, never a bright person, was attending Pakalinding Sec School in Mansakonko at the time. He never finished. But, off to Libya, he went. (The other scholarship went to Seedy Fofana, a Sankwia boy. I understand seedy is also back, but unlike Baba, that guy actually went to Al-Fatah university to study. You just need to look at Baba, to figure what it is this guy was studying in Libya.) Fast forward to '90. Baba came home full of revolutionary -Jamahiriyya- ideas. I actually met him then. And anyone who knows this guy will tell you, he's a loose canon. He went off on Yaya Ceesay -his benefactor- in the latter's office. The man kicked him out. Broke, and getting increasingly frustrated, he got involved in a coup plot (the one foiled in late '90/early '91.) He was arrested and locked up at Mile 2. So, what you're witnessing is mis-directed anger. First, he lashed out at the hand that fed him (the PPP), then at any Gambian who dares stand up to the APRC. And his older brother Sidy Saine benefitted the most from PPP patronage: Armitage School, Agric/hydromet, studies in East Africa, then Ghana, etc. (See Yaya Ceesay's hand again?) For reasons, I don't want to go into, I'll ignore the rest of that Jobe family. But, no family in the whole of West Jarra benefitted more from the PPP. Just ask around! As for Modou Soma Jobe, what can I say? (His dad's name is Kemo Jobe for those who care. I won't go into how the old man made his living. Quite honorable, but not the easiest livelihood even by Gambian standards.) But, Soma Jobe has always been an idiotic boffoon all his life. Ingratitude and hypocrisy runs in his veins. Soma Jobe (so-called because though a native of Karantaba, he was raised in Jarra Soma,) who cannot write or read a simple sentence did for the PPP exactly what he's now doing for the APRC. After "attending" secondary school in Mansakonko, Yaya Ceesay, then Minister of Agric took him under his wings. Soma Jobe was actually part of the failed Rural Dev Project that was HQ'ed in Mansakonko in the mid-70s. The project field workers were given a Honda70 motor bike. It was no secret to anybody in the area at the time what Soma Jobe's real role was. That man was responsible for the firing of many NCP/UP supporters in that whole region. Just ask around. After the failure of that project, Yaya Ceesay absorbed him back into mainstream Agric Dept, and sent him to Basse. In '84, and again thru' Yaya Ceesay's connections, he was one of (7?) workers who were sent to the US to observe farming techniques for three months. If he has any education at all, that was it. Now just imagine what these people are saying about, and doing to the PPP and UDP people. And there is one more thing about Soma Jobe. He married a blood relative of mine, the details of which marriage I'll spare you because it still boils my blood though it's been over twenty years after the fact. If anybody belongs in jail, it's this ungrateful idiot! But, not to digress, his (Soma Jobe's) first wife (the relative of mine,) has a single brother. This guy (and here's the twist) joined the Gendarmes the same day as Yaya Jammeh. In fact, they were room mates during their training. And yet again, they were all part of Jawara's security detail up to the coup period. As corny as this may sound, this cousin called me many times on a cell phone in the first week after the coup. Twice, he told me he was calling from the "Chairman's Office." I could distinctly hear a voice in the background that I today won't mistake in my dreams. However, because of Yaya Jammeh's paranoia, this guy, whom he sent off to the Farafenni camp weeks after the coup, was picked up and jailed for two years - without being charged anything -after the "attempted coup" of Nov. '94. Reason? "He was too friendly with Lt. Baisru Barrow, and they're all Jaranka people!" To this day, the guy is under constant surveillance, and gets harrassed all the time by the NIA people. Meanwhile, Soma Jobe who destroyed this gentleman's only sister's life, continues to ruin careers, supervise the harrassment, and intimidation of APRC opponents just like he did for the PPP. Some people's ingratitude and hypocrisy is ineffable! Due to the respect I have for Soma Jobe's younger brother, who is a decent person, I'll spare you all the dirt on him, but there's so much there that will pop your eyes out. But, some day, it will all come out. But, here is the 411 on these Jobe brothers: Baba was ruthless even as a boy, but when you stand your ground, he'll back off. I've witnessed someone do that to him. So, UDP people should call his bluff anytime he tries to intimidate them. If they balk, he'll continue to have a field day at their expense! As for Soma Jobe, he HAS NEVER beaten a man in his entire life. There simply couldn't be a bigger coward. Frail, and eternally sickly looking, this loud-mouthed, empty-headed, mosquito-legged blood sucker will run 990 when cornered. Take it from one who's seen it! This is a small scoop on these chief thugs of Yaya Jammeh. At heart, they're all cowards. They only prey on defenceless people. Pick up a knife, and they'll throw away their AK-47! So, like Dampha, I'm exhorting all UDP supporters to be prepared to drive to Basse and demand the unconditional release of ALL their people. There won't be another April 10/11th. If this criminal govt can arrest eighty people for being part of an entourage that WAS FORCED to defend itself against savages, why can't they arrest every member of the Paramilitary Intervention Unit that shot at, and killed fourteen kids? Enough of this bull shit, enough of the cowering, enough of the foot-dragging, enough of the "wait for the outcome of the investigation," enough of the "we don't want to destroy this country!" This APRC regime is banking on that type of mentality to continue to wreak havoc on decent law-abiding citizens. What type of nation is it that people get killed for just saying "we think this country could do better." Some of us are spending too much money on medication to calm ourselves down. This nonsense has got to stop! Saul. >Anybody that remotely knows Ousainou Darboe will respond to this question ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------