Breaking News: Senegal & Gambia Conduct Joint Military Exercises
By EBRIMA G. SANKAREH, Editor-In- Chief
Presidents Abdoulaye Wade & Yahya Jammeh
According to highly placed diplomatic sources close to the Senegalese Government of President Abdoulaye Wade, Gambian and Senegalese forces have been conducting joint-military exercises in the outskirts of Dakar for the past several days. Reveal our unimpeachable diplomatic sources, The Gambia National Army (GNA) contingent is led by Brigadier General Lang Tombong Tamba and for the past days the two armies have been engaged in intense military manoeuvres raising eyebrows among some keen observers as to what may have led to this diplomatic u-turn between Jammeh and Wade who for the past several years, have been engaged in a cat and mouse game.
A diplomatic source that contacted The Gambia Echo and begged for anonymity said, the joint-military manoeuvres are meant to familiarise the two forces with the current situation and would go a long way in fostering trust and confidence as well as maintain our long-standing fraternal relations. “We are one family divided by European colonialism and the sooner we realise this the better,” our source reasoned. A joint-press release is expected early next week the source hinted.
In a related development, our Yundum Barracks correspondent Officer “X” (“OX”) has hinted that the joint-operation was meant to forestall any imminent rebel insurgency among some dissident Gambian groups in the West and Cassamance Separatists. According to OX, a Gambian army officer described as a fugitive coupist from justice is believed to be in the advance stage of hatching a coup plot and military intelligence cased from Dakar, suggests that both Gambian dissidents in Senegal and some Cassamance rebels allegedly working with this former officer are out to launch an attack against the Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh. Asked who this officer could be, Ox said you would hopefully hear the details in the coming weeks. According to OX, the main road leading to Banjul from Serekunda was closed for several hours on Friday because “the big Man was coming” and the atmosphere here appears quite ominous.
Asked what the morale in the GNA is, Ox said it is up beat and we are celebrating because, Colonel Kinteh’s wife gave birth to a baby girl and he is expected to return later today, Sunday from the United States.
In a related twist but interesting development, our most competent sources reveal that efforts were afoot to reinstate Abdoulie Kujabie as Director General of the notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA) after his graduation from Mile Two Prisons, a hellish camp where he has sent several innocent Gambians due largely to malice and ill will. As Director General of the NIA, Kujabie and his nepotistic agents operated a concentration camp where enemies-real or imagined, where whisked to and tortured without due regard to due process. Together with Foday Barry and Baba Saho they built a trinity of evil and are an embodiment of everything callous and sinister in Gambian intelligence. Let us hope that when the deal works out, Abdoulie Kujabie will be a born-again NIA Chief if only leopards can change their spots.