I completely identify with KB's sentiments. The record need to be set straight for posterity. Thanks for a great job Mr. Colly. Can't wait for the next posting. On an anecdotal level, a friend of mine who was a senior officer in the NSS stationed at Jawara's State House while Yaya was also there, told me a story right after the coup. I was able to verify part of it, but not all of it. I believe him totally, but I can't prove the story, if you know what I mean. It concerns the early 1990s Demonstration by the soldiers who came back from Liberia -the one that was halted by the TSG at Denton Bridge. My friend told me that the Demo was led by one Private Sulayman Jammeh (who was sacked/discharged because of that incident.) This I verified. (The guy is a friend of Capt. M. Kinteh who's now in Command at Farafenni.) But here is the interesting stuff: When news reached the security heads at State House about an army demo headed for Banjul, this friend told me that they -the senior people, were scrambling to figure out how to diffuse the situation peacefully, and as quickly as possible. But, Yaya (then not even a full Lt.,) bursted into that meeting asking for permission so that he "could go and 'bombarde' -HIS EXACT WORDS- these foolish boys." He said, they kicked him out of the room. When things calmed, they called him in for a real dressing down, because of his penchant for engaging in overkill. This friend told me this story in the first week of the coup when "Kanilai" was supposed to be the Chairman. (He said no one calls him Yaya in Bwiam.) At the time, I couldn't be happier for our country because I really thought we'll break with the cycle of hopelessness that we were in. But this friend kept telling me that, "if it is the same Yaya that I went to school with in Bwiam, then god help us." He said Yaya's second name is "kufang" which is synonymous with a mixture of buffoonery, and arrogance. And he kept telling me that "if it is our Yaya, that country is in real trouble because HE'LL NEVER LEAVE IN PEACE. He doesn't know when to stop; he's not responsible, etc, etc" This friend has such a low opinion of Yaya that I couldn't believe he was talking about the same person as the coup leader. When Yaya had his first press conference, this friend sent me a copy, with a note to "pay attention to the way this boy speaks." The most notable part of the press conference was where Yaya was asked if they'll let Prez Jawara come back: "We will ne-ba! We will ne-ba allow him to rule this country again..." he replied. My boy kept telling me, "you see what I'm saying? Does this fellow sound like he can run a country?" It didn't take me long to concur with him. The twist to the story is that, through his Kujabi cousins (one of them lived off this guy for months in NY,) he tried to recruit this guy to work for him. With the guy's brains (A Levels, Advanced Intelligence Training at a West African Intelligence Academy, BSC,) he is one Foni native one won't be able to dismiss as Yaya's Affirmative Action brad. Back in 1994, we were all looking forward to returning home after college. But despite this guy's close personal relationship with Yaya, he tells me that he wouldn't work for Yaya if he was the only employer on the planet. While in Gambia recently, he said he had visitors (mutual friends of his and Yaya's) who tried to pull the same ethnic crap Joe Sambu's visitor's did: "This is a Jola govt. We need our own people like yourself to lead. We should all support this govt. When this govt fails, all Jolas will suffer. We've told Yaya that you're here. He wants to see you. He's still the same Yaya. He's your boy, your own..." My friend said he told them he'll be in Foni for a week, after which he'll visit Yaya the "following Wednesday." That following Wednesday, he was airborne to NYC! We speak almost weekly, and to this day, Ma Boy keeps telling me that I shouldn't forget what he told me about Yaya on the first days after the coup. He repeated it just yesterday: "win or lose elections, Yaya will never leave in peace." I keep praying that he's wrong. Saul. Mr. Colly, another masterpiece. Your rendition is irrefutable. To say that I am glad that you are on our side, would be an understatement. I am glad that you cleared the smoke-screen that was being peddled about the involvement of the Americans in the coup of 1994. Nothing but utter and vicious lies _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.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 You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------