MFDC Sect. General Tells President Jammeh To Explain Circumstances of Its Leader’s Death

By Kissy Kissy Mansa, State House, Banjul

The Secretary General of the rebel Movement for Democracy in the Cassamance (MFDC), Jean-Marie François BIAGUI, has issued a terse statement today, Monday 22 October, demanding the Gambian authorities to explain circumstances surrounding the death of Ismaila Magne Dieme, the MFDC leader of the Northern forces.

  
 
The statement read over Radio Sud FM and monitored in Banjul appears to implicate Yahya Jammeh. Ismaila Magne Dieme, whose last known address was Mile II in Banjul, met his death at the hands of Salif Sadio according to reports from several news organizations and confirmed by our own sources.  However, the statement stressed the need for the Gambian authorities to confirm or deny the news that the rebel leader has been executed. 
 
According to the statement, the recently freed MFDC prisoners from Gambian prisons, Kamouge Diatta in particular, did not see Ismaila Magne Dieme at the Mile II Prisons which is not surprising - assuming he is speaking the truth - because due to overcrowding and a growing number of jail breaks at the infamous prisons facility, high-value prisoners of Jammeh are no longer housed there.  Private residences around the village of Tanji have been converted into maximum-security prisons under the dictatorial regime of Jammeh. The MFDC statement acknowledges the peace efforts of the Senegalese Government and call upon the international community to continue their support.  Secretary General BIAGUI finally appealed to the various factions of the MFDC to unite in order to achieve peaceful end to the conflict; factionalism will only prolong the conflict he said.  
 Up to the time of filing this report, there has been no official reaction from Yahya Jammeh who has been accused of handing over Magne Dieme leading to execution at the hands of his sworn enemy, Salif Sadio.