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Dembish
Gambia
284 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Jul 2006 : 20:52:25
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Breaking News:Bereaved families should give up their hope on Daba Marena and others, they are dead-A GAF official tells Freedom Newspaper!!!
Breaking News:Bereaved families should give up their hope on Daba Marena and others, they are dead-A GAF official tells Freedom Newspaper!!!
Well placed sources close to the Gambia Armed Forces Command in Banjul say families of the disappeared coup suspects should give up their hope of seeing their loved ones again, as Daba Marena and four others were summarily executed under the directive of Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh.Our source who happens to be a senior GAF official said the President ordered for the killing of what the State House calls the key ring leaders of the coup. The source says the men were shot at close range and later buried at a locality near Kanilai, the President's home village.
The Late Daba Marena with the Kaftaan
The Gambian government in a statement shortly after the coup says the five coup suspects were involved in a automobile accident, while they were being transferred to a jail house in Janjangbureh about 300 kilometers away from the capital city Banjul.The government also claimed that the men escaped during the so called accident. None of the State Guards soldiers who accompanied the detainees were hurt or reported to have been questioned by the police. The government statement in a nutshell raises eyebrows within and outside the impoverished country.
The Freedom Newspaper has been investigating about the said accident, which the Jammeh regime claimed to have led to the escaping of former intelligence chief Daba Marena and four others. Initially,reports have it that the detainees were tortured to coma and in the process some died and others in critical conditions.Another report also says the men were in a neighboring country. But to get to the bottom of the story,this paper was able to speak to top GNA official who volunteered information about the whereabouts of Daba Marena and others. The GNA official said the detainees were indeed killed at close range, by some wild state guard soldiers.The official declined to release the names of the said State Guards at this hour because of what the source calls "security reasons." The official said the killing of Daba Marena and others had brought unnecessary shake up in the military, as the President had planted undercover informants everywhere in the army to spy at senior officials since they were accused of instigating the alleged foiled coup. The source said the President personally ordered for the execution of the Daba Marena and others. According to our source, the Gambian leader ordered the police and the NIA not entertain enquries from families and other human rights groups about the fate of the missing coup suspects.
Our source said the President was upset about the failure on the side of Daba Marena and the former state guard commander in Kanilai to report the said coup to him. Jammeh said the source thought that the best way to set a "drastic example" was to take the lives of the five security detainees. According to the source, the men were held at the Mile Two confinement cells prior to their execution.A State Guard soldier Ebrima Camara, who refused to take part in the said execution was alleged to have been killed.
Freedom Newspaper investigations into the said incident reveals that the arrest of Foday Barry, former NIA Director of Investigations, Ngoor Secka, Deputy intelligence chief and other NIA agents were as a result of leakage of information regarding the alleged killing of Daba and others. The news of Daba's killing was said to have been communicated to his family by a former close associate of the late intelligence chief. The official said our findings, was in tears when he explained to a member of Daba's family that the detainees were summarily executed. Jammeh said the source played a big role in ensuring that the detainees were taken from the phase of the earth.
Since the alleged disappearance of the detainees, the Gambian government had not bothered to update concerned families about the whereabouts of their loved ones.The government instead decided to take the remaining coup suspects to court. Some army officers earlier implicated in the incident later reached a plea bargaining with the state with the sole aim of using them as prosecution witnesses. These witnesses have already started testifying in court.
According to the GAF official who spoke to the Freedom Newspaper, Daba Marena's initial request to speak to the President was declined by the agents assigned to take their lives. All NIA agents close to Daba the source continued were moved from the agency and were placed under special surveillance by a group who report directly to President Jammeh.
The information volunteered by this top military chief is very revealing.The Gambian government should do justice to itself and the bereaved families and tell them the whereabouts of the coups suspects.
A similar incident happened in Ghana some years ago,when President Rallings came to power. Certain judges were summarily executed in grand style. The killing of these judges are still fresh in the minds of Ghanaians. Flight Lieutenant Ralling's action was seen as an act of revenge against judicial staff whom he harbored grudges following his imprisonment.
Killing political detainees is not new in The Gambia. Since the advent of the repressive regime of President Jammeh, the Gambian leader succeeded in taking the lives of coup suspects and perceived opponents. In November of 1994, dozens of junior and senior army officers were summarily executed following what the former military junta called a "foiled coup." Some of the murdered soldiers were buried in mass graves in Yundum and Fajara barracks respectively. Some reports even have it that some of the killed soldiers were buried at the Brikama Nyjambai Forest. Former junta number two man, Sana B Sabally was said to have taken part in the killing of these soldiers.
Again on April 10TH, 2000 over 14 unarmed school children and journalist Omar Barrow were killed in cold blood by the country's security forces. In what was described as a peaceful students protest, turned out to be bloody as the armed state guards murdered the kids. A score of students were left maimed by the security forces. The students were demonstrating the torture of their colleague Ebrima Barry, who was tortured to death by personels of the Brikama Fire Service. Barry was a victim of police brutality as Fire men subjected him to corporal punishment following his refusal to comply to sitting arraignment in class. His hair was barbed and was made to carry huge bags of cement. The students also protested the alleged raping of their colleague by a member of police intervention unit known as the (PIU).
What is worrying is that the growing culture of impunity under Jammeh's watch. Journalist Deyda Hydara was also murdered in cold blood in December of 2004. It is now getting to two years and yet the killers of Hydara had not been brought to book. The government ignored local and international calls to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Meanwhile, our GAF source said there is a big division in the army. While certain officers benefited from the President's recent promotion of soldiers, said the source, a good number of the army are apparently unhappy about the way the President is treating the army. The source said the President is applying divide and rule in the military which do not go down well with junior and senior officers.
While some government supporters claimed that Daba Marena and others are alive, we challenge them to produce the bodies of the feared dead security detainees. This will go a long way in bringing hope on the side of their families. We at the Freedom Newspaper will publish whatever information passed to us by people working in Jammeh's government especially officials handling state security matters. Unless the government clears the air, people will not be convinced that these people are alive.Merely saying that they are alive without producing them is not enough. We want to see the bodies of the detainees. We are too intelligent to be fooled. No time for gimmicks.
The editor can be reached at the following email addresses:editor@freedomnewspaper.com,or panderry_mbai@yahoo.com If you know that it is happening or is about to happen please contact us. The Freedom Newspaper is your leading source of news.
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There is no egg without a chicken, and no chicken without egg. |
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Newfy
Western Samoa
462 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jul 2006 : 22:15:12
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I'm sorry to hear about the five people being murdered in cold blood. That is what everyone had thought had happened. It sounds like it has been confirmed by higher ups. It is tragic that such a thing could ever happen in the Gambia. May the souls of these fallen people whose lives were cut short rest in peace.
Im wondering if there is any more news about these people who are missing as well...
Lt Wassa Camara, Mariam Denton, Ngorr Secka, Abdoulie Kujabi, Kemo Balajo, Lt Colonel Vincent Jatta, Foday Barry, Buba Saho and a Mr. Mbodj.
What can be done to help now.. . |
The law an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Mohandas Gandhi |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jul 2006 : 22:26:16
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I suppose if they are confirmed dead, then the best support is PRACTICAL support of their families. Making sure they are fed , clothed and educated. They have enough to grieve about without having to worry about the practicalities of life.
If anyone on this web site was thinking about sponsoring a child. Perhaps they could decide on one of these peoples children. Small steps...... that is where revolutions come from. |
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Newfy
Western Samoa
462 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jul 2006 : 23:02:07
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Yes, Bev, it is a human revolution one takes when caring for ourselves, others, this planet to help it to heal. There is power in this type of caring to ensure the health and wellbeing a child, children, a family, a community, a planet.
Wonder what the families of those who are missing would really want to see for themselves and their families...
In giving, we receive...
but learning how to fish is important to be self sufficient. when to give, when to receive and to teach self sufficiency is a balancing act. |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jul 2006 : 14:39:13
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dembish was this printed in a newspaper, or is it a rumour. things like this are cruel to the families..
Well placed sources!!! |
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kajaw
70 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jul 2006 : 03:42:12
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I have said very often that this government, by their own actions lack legitimicy and they must be removed. I have asked this question often. What do you do with a system that has become so corrupt that it has become impossible to remove them by any other means than violence. I sincerely belief that no election is going to end this missery. The election system itself is corrupt. Today i saw in one of the papers that one regional governor is urging supporters of the APRC to recruit pottential voters from senegal. This is precisely why i found Omega's fixation with election as completely ignorant of what is happening in gambia. I failed to reply to Omega's suggestion that the electoral observers were not invited. This is also not in line with the facts. In case you mised it Omega, the oposition parties requested electon monitors through the electoral commison but the commison rejected it outright. Those who came as observers had no monitoring role and in fact never left kombo.
The only way this government is going to go is if it is forced out. The only way people are going to force the government is when they are tired. When they are hurt to unbelivable degrees. This is nothing new. It is mostly a function of ignorance. However, when desperation sets in, people will begin to wake up as they did in Napal resently and risk being killed to force the dictatorship out. I prefer street protests to coups. Many coups fail leading eventually to the killing of some of the brave people who took the initiative. However, it is demonstrated in Libanon, Serbia, Georgia, Ukrain, Napal and other places that when people are so desperate that it no longer mattered whether they live or die, they can bring down any government.
As to whether this plotters are dead or alive, i cannot say. Perhaps the paper is getting the corrrect information. Time will tell. One thing is cleare, still no one has any idea what really happened to the November 11 plotters. The former spokesman of the APRC and the Former army commander (The author of meet me in conackry) seem to suggest that they were murdered. At the time, the government announced that only 4 solders died in the shootings that followed. However, one of those alleged to have died in the shoot out was with his family on friday morning. The event was on thursday night. The young Lt was with his family until friday morning when he got ready to go to work. That was the last they heared of him. The government announced that he died on thursday night even though his family know that he was alive till friday morning. So i cannot put it past this government to murder the so called coup plotters. Remember they said that they were transfering them to Georgetown Prison and they escaped after an asccident. Tell this story to an elementary school kid and they will know you are lying.
1. Why would you transfer someone 300 miles away when he is suposed to face trison trial in Banjul. Are we to belief that during the trial priod, they would drive them 300 miles every time they need to attend court. This is absolute nonsense.
2. If they were in a vehicle and are high value targets, does the government want us to belief that they were not escorted by armed guards. Do they want us to belief that they were not handcuffed and that they simply got out of the vehicle, break their cuffs and walked away wihiles the guards look on. Can somebody please help me understand this.
3. The government did not announce them missing for more than three days. If a high value prisoner escapes, would the government not have seen the urgency of alarting the general public and seeking their help in capturing the fugitives.
This whole issue tells me one thing clearely, that unless the government somehow magically make them appear they might be dead. However, one who can make things dissapera so magicaly might be able to make them appear in similar dramatic fashon.
However one thing is clear, the government is lying about something. Ome thing is also cleare, the facts in none of this killings has never been revealed to the general public. Who killed Koro Seesay? The government is still invistigating nearely 10 years after the insident. As far as i can tell, no report has yet been produced. But such is the handiwork of a tyranical regeme where the citizens are not yet fed up.
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somita
United Kingdom
163 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jul 2006 : 10:07:59
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Its sad news but not surprising, this is a government that has no respect for humanity. They have killed before in broad day light with impunity and they will surely continue until Gambian's wake up from the slumber dream. Lets remember the accomplish to this crimes are Gambians not some aliens or super natural force. When it was announced that the big Five has escape, my first worry was that they have been summarily executed because there is not way they could have escaped.
My thoughts are with their family in this very difficult times. I have said this on this forum that most innocent amongst us can fall victim of this regime, therefore its not only a moral responsibility to our soceity to see the regime out but also a personal responsitility to our own life.
This is why i still fine it difficult to understand how the individuals (the opposition paties) who supposely are our life lines, are acting incredibly irresponsible and irrational. |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jul 2006 : 11:39:27
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Yes Somita I find it hard to understand why they cant let go of their differences and unite to get rid of this evil government.
Self interest should not come before the greater good ie the people of the Gambia. |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jul 2006 : 11:48:31
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| have the families started mourning yet, i think not, it wrong for media to print things last this without proper thought for the families. |
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