Gambia News:Detention without Trial, Disappearances without Trace

FOROYAA -The Gambia -Foroyaa continues to monitor the long detention without trial and the disappearances without trace of Gambian citizens. Many of these family heads were said to have been picked up by men in plain clothes. According to some families, they are yet to establish the whereabouts of their loved ones since they were whisked away some years ago.
Mrs. Masireh (Marcie) Jammeh, Mr. Harunah Jammeh, Corporal Alfusainey Jammeh, a Prison warden, all natives of Kanilai in Foni in the Western Region of the Gambia and Mr. Jasarja (Sarja) Kujabi, a native of Foni Dobong, went missing since 14 July 2005.
The family of Masireh and Haruna Jammeh said their family heads were taken away in their presence and since then they have not set their eyes on them or heard of their whereabouts. Jasarja Kujabie’s family said he was arrested on his farm and was escorted to his home to change his farming clothes and was later taken away. The family said they have done all what they could do to get information about him but to no avail.
The family of Prison warden, Corporal Alfusainey Jammeh said he was stationed as guard at the compound of the Director General of The Gambia Prisons Service, Mr. David Colley for some time. They said he was called to report to Police Headquarters in Banjul, but he never returned home. The family said he later called to inform them that he was being detained, but did not give any reason for his detention.
The ex- District Chief of Foni Kansala, Alhagie Momodou Lamin Nyassi and his two close friends, Alhagie Buba Sanyang (alias Bubai Sanyang) and Ndongo Mboob, all natives of Foni Bwiam, went missing on the same day. Their families said the three friends were picked up by men in plain clothes on board a numberless white pickup vehicle on the evening of 4 April 2006, as the trio was seeing each other off after a visit from the house of Sanyang. The families said since then they have never heard or traced their whereabouts, even though they tried all avenues accessible to them.
Journalist Ebrima Manneh (alias Chief Manneh), a State House reporter for the Daily Observer Newspaper went missing since 7th July 2006. His family said he left for work on that day and never returned home. The father said he approached all the concerned authorities and influential personalities within the country for them to intervene to help in the search of his son, but his efforts did not yield any fruits. He said he had visited all the known prisons and numerous police stations across the country in search of his lost son but the authorities never allowed him access to the installations.
His colleagues at work said he was picked up by a man in plain clothes. They said he was later seen on board a white car heading towards Banjul and never returned to work.
The Media Foundation of West Africa (MFWA) took the matter to the Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja for The Gambia government to release him. The Gambian authorities never appeared before the Court even though the Court made it known that they were served with summon of the suit against them. After a long legal debate without Gambian government appearing in any sitting, the ECOWAS Court delivered judgment and asked the Banjul authorities to release him and to also compensate him an amount of US 100,000. Eight months after the Court’s order the Government made an official comment that Journalist Manneh had never been in their custody. Since then the matter was left like that.
Mr. Kanyiba Kanyi, an employee of the Christian Children Fund (CCF) said to be an opposition sympathizer, went missing since 18th September 2006. His family said he was arrested by men in plain clothes on board a cab at his house in Bonto village in Kombo East, while they looked on. They said his junior brother was later arrested on the same evening and detained over night at the Serious Crime Unit at Police Headquarters in Banjul.
His family said they took Lawyer Ousainou Darboe who filed a “Habeas Corpus” at the High Court for the state to produce him but to no avail. They said the matter has been in court for almost four years and no progress is forthcoming. They added that they do not even know where the case stands as at now. The family said they are completely devastated.
Major Wally Nyang of The Gambia Armed Forces is said to be in detention at the Mile II Central Prison since early March 2010. His family said he was arrested at his house at the Yundum Barracks shortly after he closed from work.
Mr. Abdoulie Njie and Alieu Lowe, both residents of Fagi Kunda are being detained at the Mile II prison since 27 March 2006. The duo were arrested in connection with the 21 March 2006 abortive coup plot. Their families said they have never heard charges preferred against them since their arrest. The family said they are allowed to visit them some times, but not at all times.
Mr. Ebou Jarju, a former Steward at State House, who was first arrested on 20 March 2008, in the presence of his family and held at Banjul Police station up to 11 January 2009, when he was released without any charges, only to be re-arrested a week later is still in custody. His family said he is currently being held at the Mile II Central Prison. They said they could not have access to him since then. The family said he was last seen two weeks ago at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital under the escort of Prison officers. They said he appeared drained.

Côte d'Ivoire's civil war Coming to a crunch, Rebel troops are gaining ground

SKIRMISHES in Côte d’Ivoire between political rivals have grown into a full-blown civil war. Rebel forces allied to the winner of last year’s presidential election are sweeping through the country from the west, causing 1m people to flee their homes, many of them to neighbouring countries. West African governments are under increasing pressure to intervene.

For the moment, the forces allied to last year’s election winner, Alassane Ouattara, are on the offensive. They have advanced on several fronts and claim to control two-thirds of the country, including the towns of Bouaflé and Sinfra. Fighting was also reported in Bouna and Bondoukou. As The Economist went to press, the rebels had taken Yamoussoukro, the capital, and the port of San Pedro. Now the commercial capital, Abidjan, in the south-east, is in their sights.

But the fighting is far from over. Forcibly dislodging Laurent Gbagbo, the defeated president, from his palace in Abidjan may come at a high price. His men are supported by mercenaries and are better armed. Mr Gbagbo has called for mediation and a ceasefire, but given no public sign that he is prepared to step down.

A summit meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on March 24th implored the UN to mandate its forces to stop the fighting. The regional block failed to dispatch its own vaunted force, the only step likely to end the conflict in the short run. Mr Ouattara has called for it, but Ghana and the Gambia objected. Their motives are murky. The Gambia’s president, Yahya Jammeh, is an old chum of Mr Gbagbo, and Ghana makes money from the conflict. Its smugglers have taken over much of the Ivorian cocoa trade, which has been crippled by the imposition of UN sanctions.

A further obstacle to action from ECOWAS is Nigeria. The only west African state with the military beef to lead an intervention is generally in favour of dispatching peace-making troops but is preoccupied with its own elections this month. But the fighting in Côte d’Ivoire is intensifying so ferociously that Nigerian leaders may have to turn aside from campaigning in the interest of regional stability.

The African Union has been trying for months to persuade Mr Gbagbo to go, but some governments still support him. At the UN the appetite for involvement in African civil wars has been sated for the moment by its intervention in Libya. ECOWAS is Côte d’Ivoire’s best—and perhaps last—hope of avoiding the fate of Angola, where a disputed election in 1992 reignited a long-running civil war and fuelled it for another decade.

West African countries have a history of drawing their neighbours into their civil wars and many now fear the Ivorian rot will spread with the refugees streaming out of the country. Some neighbours are already suffering. Three million ethnic Burkinabes, a sixth of Burkina Faso’s population, live in Côte d’Ivoire and many have started to leave. Mali and Ghana too are facing an influx of refugees.

But worst affected country so far is Liberia, which ended its own civil war only in 2003. Its feeble economy is strained by 100,000 newly arrived Ivorians. The most recent lot could make trouble. Unlike the first to arrive, they are not all ethnic kin of the local population, which supported Mr Ouattara. Some of the refugees around the town of Janzon are wearing campaign T-shirts endorsing Mr Gbagbo. There are fears that the refugees might ignite long-simmering ethnic tensions. Graham Greene once wrote that during travels in Liberia’s troubled hinterland he “learnt to love life again”. Few Ivorians seem likely to concur.

Source:The economist

Gambia ALERT: Sports journalist in court for hosting aggrieved golf workers

MFWA-The Kanifing District Magistrate Court will on March 31, 2011 continue with the criminal trial of Bakary B. Baldeh, a sports producer and presenter of West Coast Radio, a privately-owned FM station, over a February 11 sports programme that the Gambian authorities claimed was criminal and meant to incite violence among Gambians.

This will the third time that Baldeh will appear before the court to answer charges of “conspiracy to commit felony”, and a “conspiracy” to incite violence. The charges stemmed from the presenter’s hosting of two aggrieved golf workers who had accused Ebrima Jawara, President of the Gambia Golfers Association and the son of former President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, of unfair treatment during a recent national golf tournament in the country. The tournament was sponsored by PresidentYahya Jammeh. Baldeh has since pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
On its website on March 25, the pro-government Banjul-based The Daily Observer newspaper reported that Baldeh is being tried as a result of an alleged complaint filed by Ebrima Jawara. However, Media Foundation forWest Africa (MFWA) sources in the Gambia said that that was not the case and that Jawara has denied that he initiated the action.
Baldeh was arrested on March 23 after being invited to the Karaiba police station in the Kanifing Municipality in the northern part of Banjul together with the station’s proprietor, Peter Gomez. While Gomez was released after a brief interrogation, Baldeh was illegally detained for three days. He was released on March 25 after making his first appearance in court. 
Meanwhile, Baldeh has decided to temporary suspend his programme until his ordeal is over, according to the Daily Observer. 

Source:MFWA

Gambia News: IEC sets date for Presidential poll

Banjul - The head of the Gambian election commission, Alhaji Mustapha Carayol, announced on Wednesday that presidential elections would be held on November 24.

President Yahya Jammeh, who took control of the West African country in a military coup in 1994 and has won three elections since, has said he will seek another term.

Gambia, a sliver of land straddling the river of the same name, has been a rare example of stability in West Africa, though human rights watchdogs say this has been achieved at great cost to human rights and press freedoms.

Jammeh's rule has also been characterised by what critics say is paranoia and superstition.

He has jailed several members of his inner circle in recent years for allegedly plotting to overthrow him and earned international notoriety in 2007 by claiming he could cure HIV/Aids with herbs.

Carayol also announced that parliamentary elections would take place early next year and municipal elections in early 2013.


Source:News24.com

Gambia:The cruel primitiveness of Yahya Jammeh's psychopathological idiosyncrasies

By Mathew K Jallow

In George Orwell's Animal Farm, the two main characters, Napoleon and Squealer, ostracized Napoleon's partner Snowball and drove him from the farm by making false allegation of impropriety and economic sabotage against him. The duo then proceeded to consolidate their power and enrich themselves; looting, raping and imposing an unbearable tyranny over the rest of the animal kingdom. Animal Farm's storied narrative may not necessarily have a moral lesson, but it is a timeless melodrama symbolizing the nature of human greed and man's capacity for evil deeds.

This tragic Orwellian characterization of his times may be a work of fiction which could easily have been written by William Shakespeare six centuries earlier or crafted into a tragic theatre play by Sophocles twenty-three centuries ago, but the substance of the story is predictably relevant in our times. If the harrowing rancor that bedeviled the relationship between the governing Napoleon and Squealer duo and the governed kingdom animals spells the genius of Orwell, perhaps it is worth adding the gift of clairvoyance to his deserved collection of accomplishments and accolades.

Animal Farm captures the human features that spell out the moral bankruptcy characteristic of the Machiavellian school of thought; the acquisition and retention of absolute power, wealth and privilege at any cost, which is symptomatic of dictatorships throughout history. One would think Animal Farm was written with today's rulers in mind, for its narrative suddenly comes alive again in the stories of tyranny and dictatorship so prevalent on our African continent. Close to home, the Animal Farm story when superimposed on our troubled past decade and half history will showcase a compelling narrative of boundless lunacy, jaw-dropping greed and out-of-this-world cruelty. And each day that passes, Animal Farm's main evil character Napoleon, looks more like a Napoleon of a different era and of a different time, yet alive and well in The Gambia; Yahya Jammeh.

The horror stories, known and unknown, of our recent past history under Jammeh's burdensome and unbearable tyranny, bear that out. Like dictators past, Yahya Jammeh has embrace Niccolo Machiavelli theories and lessons in leadership, lock, stock and barrel, unedited and without moral reservation. Jammeh's continues to adapt so creatively to the times, not for the better, but for the worst; never deviating from the core Machiavellian doctrine, which has defined his sixteen-year long reign of terror. The executions and murders of innocent citizens and non-citizens alike, may account for the greatest stains on the regime's unflattering resume, but other bizarre behaviors that have courted public attention and deservedly so, point to a level of desperation that has compelled Jammeh to outdo himself in the severity of the agents and mechanisms of terror that he employs to secure compliance from a servile people.

In a society malleable to psychological manipulation, Yahya Jammeh's attempts to use of mysticism and mystification of himself, has resulted in his declaration of possessing supernatural powers that enable him to perform cures of terminal diseases; a public declaration that left the scientific world and prestigious medical research institutions around the globe gasping with dizzying incredulity. The effects of his herbal "cures" and devil worship on the vulnerable and desperately sick is yet unknown, but that has not stopped Yahya Jammeh giving false hopes to the poor and desperately sick. But if this alone is not strange enough, the witch-hunting exercise around the country two years ago, made the Salem, Massachusetts witch-hunting in 1692 almost look like a child's play.

The desperation of the target population; the old and weak, created such a sense of despondency around the country, some people were willing to cut Yahya Jammeh life short to save the country of his monstrous and demonic behavior, even if meant losing their own lives in the process. But Yahya Jammeh who is habituated to creating social disruptions that have far-reaching psychological impacts that are often severely traumatic to his victims, has again graduated to a new dimension of craziness that is leaving many families worried if not downright scared that their loved ones may fall victim to Yahya Jammeh's over handed and over-bearing behavior.

Three weeks ago, Yahya Jammeh's regime arrested and detained some family members of politician Mai Fatty, and last week, a former young Gambian military officer exiled in Senegal, Musa Drammeh, bore the brunt of Jammeh's cruel vengeance when his family was arrested and detained without cause. This is a new departure from the norm for Yahya Jammeh, and it is bound to cause consternation in the minds of Gambians vulnerable to abuse and intimidation by the Jammeh regime. Gambians must raise their voices and refuse to be silenced any longer, and if the cases of Musa Drammeh and Mai Fatty's families are anything to go by, we once again might be in for a long dark, night. But one thing is certain, Yahya Jammeh's bizarre behaviors and maltreatment of innocent Gambians is the cruel epitome of the primitiveness of his psychopathological idiosyncrasies.

This demented new chapter thrust before our discriminating consciences, must concern us all greatly. And as the famous and timeless German poetry quote goes: At first they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me ~ Pastor Martin Niemöller, 1946.