By Ebrima G. Sankareh & Mathew K. Jallow
Jammeh Targets Sana B. Sabally and Khalipha Bajinka
In a desperate attempt to silence critics and eliminate all potential witnesses to its numerous human rights abuses or for fear of dissident elements that may destabilize the tyrannical regime of President Yahya Jammeh, The Gambia Echo has been reliably informed of the regime’s efforts to assassinate two former lieutenants, Ex-Vice Chairman Captain Sana B. Sabally and Major Khalipha Bajinka from their save havens in neighboring Senegal.
Capt. Sana B. Sabally, who together with President Jammeh overthrew the regime of Sir Dawda Jawara, served as the junta’s Vice Chairman until he allegedly ran afoul of the dictator, was arrested, falsely charged with treason, and served nine years in prison. Since his release, Captain Sabally has become a cyber-warrior, lambasting his erstwhile comrade, and now nemesis, in a campaign designed to restore sanity in the apparently cantankerous character of Yahya Jammeh. Major Khalipha Bajinka on the other hand, has been silent since his narrow escape from the jaws of death on July 22, 2006 when a team of killer marksmen were sent to apprehend him. According to our unassailable source at State House, Interior Secretary Ousman Sonko has been tasked with the plan to eliminate Captain Sabally and Major Bajinka in Dakar, where the regime believes the duo have been pulling strings. “The government in Banjul sees Bajinka as a potential prosecution witness in any future human rights indictment, and Sabally who still has a large following in the military, as a lethal threat to the existence of the regime” says our source. The source revealed that, “The Interior Secretary Ousman Sonko is the head of the mission, and he has since moved his operations headquarters and hit squad, the very feared CHIAKIAS, to the town of Farafenni in the North Bank, due to its proximity to Dakar, Senegal.” Military personnel in Farafenni have confirmed Secretary Sonko’s presence there since the campaign for the parliamentary elections kicked off some weeks ago. “We know Sonko very well; he is not a politician and his presence here has been suspect. We believe that he is using the campaign period as a camouflage, but there is an ulterior motive for his presence in Farafenni,” one concerned soldier told this paper.
It can be recalled that late last year, Ex- Vice Chairman, Sana B. Sabally wrote to The Gambia Echo disclosing some intelligence details about Yahya Jammeh’s government’s attempts to assassinate him. We will continue to monitor this government’s activities at home.
Why Was NIA’s Intelligence Chief Momodou Haidara Sacked?
According to our source, Momodou Haidara was the NIA’s Director of Intelligence, and his wife Mrs. Haidara is the Chief of Protocol to First Lady Madam Zainab Suma Jammeh. After a bitter row with President Jammeh, The First Lady had confided in some close aides and friends that she had already convinced her parents to elope with a prince from the gulf state Dubai with hopeful anticipation of marrying him. Zainab reportedly told these friends that of late, her husband, the Gambian leader, has been behaving in very strange ways, and it could be that something is wrong with his head. Mrs. Haidara in turn confided in her husband Momodou Haidara, then the Director of Intelligence, that her boss was about to elope, but Mr. Haidara reportedly did not act on this intelligence. As most things Gambian, the news started to spread in the grapevine and the Head of State got wind of it. He then instructed the NIA to monitor her movements. Not surprisingly, close aides hinted to the First Lady that the Agency was on her heels, and she confronted president Jammeh about this, which she followed with a request for a divorce. Haidara was summoned for questioning and immediately relieved of his duties, said our State House source. It should be noted that President Jammeh has several assets in Zainab’s native Morocco, a hotel in Spain that is registered in her name, and he was concerned that if her plans had succeeded, she was going to own all these assets, added our source. Jammeh was therefore very upset that Haidara had failed to report this potentially damning piece of intelligence to him, but he was much more upset at the leakage of his orders of surveillance on the First Lady. Our State House reporter concluded, “As at now, State House is like Faluja in Iraq. I swear that I would rather go there than to remain here at this State House. Even we are to be careful. I am sure that after the parliamentary elections victory celebrations on the State House beachfront, some more heads would roll. I have sympathy for First Lady Zainab’s Protocol officer, Mrs. Haidara, who may eventually be sacked.”
Staff Sergeant Buba Mendy- Dead or Alive?
Sergeant Buba Mendy from Toubakolong in the Upper Nuimi District, North Bank Region was arrested from the Tourism Development Area (TDA), since April last year in the wake of the March 22nd, 2006, foiled coup. After the Ex- Director General of the notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Mr. Daba Marena was reported to have fled with four other security detainees, the regime published a list of officers who it said had been promoted. Sgt. Mendy was one of those promoted to the rank of a Staff Sergeant. Says OX, our Yundum Barracks whistle-blower, “what the Jammeh government failed to tell the nation was that Sgt. Buba Mendy was arrested, and has since not been seen. However, in the regime’s usual tactics of covering up its murderous activities, Sgt. Mendy’s name was listed as a soldier in good standing. OX our Yundum Barracks source added, “I wish to tell the whole world through your respected medium, that Staff Sergeant Buba Mendy may have also been executed by Jammeh’s hit squads.” “I have visited Mile II Prisons, the NIA, Janjangbureh Prisons, Jeswang Prisons and all other secret detention sites, but no one has the slightest clue as to Staff Sergeant Mendy’s whereabouts,” says OX. “Knowing the regime to my fingertips”, says OX, “I am inclined to report with a high degree of certainty that Staff Sergeant Buba Mendy, who we fondly call, Onene-Onana, has been summarily executed too. Mendy, says OX, was perhaps the hardest working officer I have ever encountered.”
Haruna Jammeh & Sarja Kujabi Confirmed Dead!!
Readers would recall that in our November 12th. 2006 Echo Edition we had a story on Haruna Jammeh and Sarja Kujabi (a.k.a. Jasaka) captioned: Sarja & Haruna-Dead? That was then and this is now. Today, we report with absolute certainty that the duo were executed exactly as we predicted in our article (See Echo November Archives) to refresh your memory. We have three witnesses who are willing to testify before any competent tribunal that: Staff Sergeant Sana Manjang, Sergeant Malick Jatta, Sergeant Major Bora Kolley and Cpl. Adama Saidy under the command of Musa Jammeh and Alhaji Martin carried out the executions of Haruna Jammeh and Sarja Kujabi in the thick forests of Foni. In a related development, our reporters, all of them soldiers also confirmed Hon. Hamat Bah’s allegations that the Independent Newspaper printing press was burnt down by Sheriff Gisseh (now retired), Staff Sgt. Sana Manjang and Sgt. Malick Jatta. Hon. Hamat Bah of the National Reconciliation Party, Mr. Lamin Waa Juwara and Hon. Halifa Sallah of the National Alliance for Democracy & Development (NADD) were all targeted for execution by these hit squads according to our military sources. One reason why Jammeh fell apart with some of his senior military officers late last year was their refusal to carryout this cowardly mission of assassinating political figures in our country, our sources revealed.
Breaking News
As predicted by our State House source, we have just received reports that Mrs. Fatou A.K Njie, Gambian Ambassador to Nigeria, is the new protocol officer to First Lady Zainab Suma Jammeh. We will investigate and report the story in detail.
Editor’s Note: In our next report we will reveal the identities of those who attacked and almost murdered famed lawyer Ousman Sillah in cold blood. We have their names and every Gambian should know the truth!!