MFDC Rebels- Major Security Threat to Gambia, Bissau & Senegal

 

By Lt. Col. Samsudeen Sarr

 

 

I had this week intended to write about the regrettable event of November 11 1994 in memory of those killed by the AFPRC Government but I think enough has already been written to recognize the importance of the day. It was exactly this week thirteen years ago when members of the four-month old AFPRC-Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council government summarily executed several Gambian soldiers, officers and other ranks- accused of organizing a counter coup. It was also “the incident” that gave the Gambian people the wake up call of a new government prepared to go at any length even to murder suspects who might not necessarily be proven guilty just to stay in power. And the worst part was the lies told about how the victims died instead of frankly telling the world what really happened. I don’t see the need to elaborate on what happened because since then Gambians have seen and heard all to know what the truth was. However the issue I was going to look into this time concerns those ordinary but over zealous soldiers whose greed for money or rapid promotion often compel them into carrying out illegal orders of their superiors. In most cases these small-minded soldiers after being driven by their selfish needs into torturing, maiming or killing their victims tend to live in misery for the rest of their lives. And most of them die too young. Being guilty of their crimes coupled with the stigma that follows them everywhere usually take a greater toll on their wishes to live a normal life than what the rewards can provide them after their abominable actions.

Alagie Kanyi is still a classic example of those categories of soldiers who was ordered to commit atrocities that eventually haunted and forced him to voluntarily quit his job. I remembered him once complaining about how his fellow soldiers treated him like a pariah not wanting to have anything to do with him because of the role he had played in the butchering of soldiers on November 11, 1994. He tried to justify his actions as being operations expected of all good soldiers especially, when the order originates from their superiors. He tried the Immigration Department but officials of that Department equally avoided and frustrated him on the stories heard about his past monstrous deeds. The latest I heard about him was his bad addiction to illicit drugs and his infection by a rare form of tuberculoses seemingly resistant to most antibiotics.

Batch Jallow was a simple truck diver before the coup that soon after the takeover became Edward Singhateh’s most reliable bodyguard instrumental in helping his boss carry out some of the most gruesome activities from the Defense Ministry. Today, according to those who frequently see him at his home village of Farato since his dismissal from the army all report the same thing about him. Batch they say is completely delirious to the point of not being able to recognize his family members anymore.

On a recent reflection, the late Tumbul Tamba was said to have taken part in torturing and killing several innocent people before he was struck by a mysterious disease and died. Musa Jammeh (a.k.a. Malia Mungu) another nice gentleman tuned torturer and murderer is said to be suffering from a sudden sickness that is gradually turning him into a walking skeleton. Soldiers in the GNA, I understand, are in serious prayers for him not to survive the sickness that looks like a slower torturer and killer. There is nothing abnormal or superstitious about what is happening to these people. Unless a human being is a psychopath or the person is forced to act in self defense, for example in wars, killing a human being is scientifically proven to be equally or even more traumatic to the perpetrator as it is to the victim. The constant depression, nightmares and sense of loneliness that affect the human mind following an unjustified murder of a person, especially, someone who might have considered the killer his friend or associate is more lethal than many of us may understand. That is why we have the Kanyis, Batch Jallows, Tumbul Tambas and Musa Jammehs being slowly but surely cut down by the very evil forces that drove them into carrying out the orders they very well knew were wrong and illegal.

Let’s however continue to pay special attention to the rest of these retards and see how they would last trying to endure the pressure while the effects of their past actions bring them down one after the other. Alagie Martin and Kausu Camara (Bombarde`) plus a handful of them still willing to murder for position and money will have their days. That’s a message I wanted to share with the soldiers in the army on this special occasion; it is also a warning for them to be mindful of the temptation to commit evil on a promised reward of money or higher rank. The money and rank earned from crimes committed against innocent human beings will never be able to heal the pain, frustration and ultimate demise that come with it. Keep that in mind.

I was however more bothered this week by the current security situation in the Senegambian region than anything else. The MFDC presence in The Gambia whether we care about it or not has been posing a serious security risk to the region than anything I can think of now. What I see happening in The Gambia today is very much similar to what had happened in Guinea Bissau throughout the 80’s and early 90’s.

President Vieira & Lt. Col Samsudeen Sarr

For over a decade during that period, the government of President Vieira of Guinea was clearly embroiled in the MFDC struggle for independence in Cassamance. Rebel groups and their criminal bases were freely welcomed in the former Portuguese colony allowing them to organize guerrilla raids in and out of Cassamance with very deadly repercussions. Guineans who could not see too far in the future and treated the rebellion as a simple liberation war similar to the one they had waged against the Portuguese for independence thought the MFDC could also break Cassamance away from the rest of Senegal sooner than the period it had taken. As a nation of socialist orientation leaning heavily on economic support from the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or Comecon those days, Guinea Bissau couldn’t project how difficult things would be if their economy suffered a major setback, a reality that dawned on them when the Soviet bloc started to fall apart in the early 90’s.

Some Gambians might remember how after Kukoi Samba Sanyang in 1981 tried but failed to topple the PPP government with a plan of replacing it with a Marxist-Leninist one, escaped to Guinea Bissau and was welcomed and given full protections by the Vieira government. Efforts by both Senegal and The Gambia to have Kukoi extradited yielded nothing; the only thing that was sent back from Bissau was a group picture of the rebel leader with his comrades showing a fist rose high to demonstrate his defiance. President Vieira went from there to open his borders to the MFDC rebels and as I said above, for years gave them all the support they needed. The rebel base “Effock” that was finally destroyed by a Senegalese infantry force in the mid 90’s after being defended for a long time would not have been established in southeastern Cassamance if Guinea Bissau didn’t provide the combatants with all their necessary logistics.

But the sudden disintegration of the Soviet Union that came with an instant moratorium on financial aid to their former allies in the third world including Guinea Bissau started the economic problems of President Vieira. By 1998, the troubling economic conditions were so bad that criminal gangs disguising as MFDC combatants virtually turned Bissau into a lawless nation. The international community first noticed the climax of the desperate situation when Senegalese marines intercepted a consignment of arms in the high seas destined to rebel fighters in Cassamance. The dealers were Guinea Bissau soldiers and the serial numbers of the weapons traced to their armory inventories.

President Vieira immediately accused his Chief of Staff General Ansumana Manneh of running the racket with Manneh counter accusing his boss of the illegal trade. It resulted in their bloody civil war in 1999 that pitched President Vieira’s troops supported by Senegal and Guinea Conakry against General Manneh’s forces reinforced by the MFDC. Anyway, after a stalemate in their battle an ECOMOG force arranged and funded by France replaced the foreign troops supporting President Vieira.

Talking to Manneh in his Bissau Airport hideout, he had lamented over the severe financial problems they were facing in the country especially, within the army. He had even compared his monthly earnings as a general to that of lieutenants in other national armies. He was convinced that President Vieira’s bad leadership was the root cause of the economic problems of the nation. But Vieira knew better. The useless rebels in his country had been the major obstacles to his economic and social developments.

The ECOMOG force was however overrun by Gen. Manneh’s forces resulting to the overthrow of the Vieira government.

But the circle of violence characterized by betrayals and death continued to suffocate the country’s political and social stability until the people and the army came to their senses. Their polarize opinions over whether Cassamance should be an independent nation or not was cast aside in view of the more important need to get rid of all foreign rebels from their country. Six years after his government was overthrown President Vieira in a rare phenomenon was able to return from exile and win back his presidential position in a national election. The people of Bissau had by then realized that encouraging the MFDC to wage war from their country was the greatest mistake in their political and military history. As a result, they in turn waged a bitter but very successful campaign in fighting all the rebels out of their country. Chasing the rebels out of their country has brought them a peace and economic boom never known before. Crime has gone down and armed bandits roaming their streets have been brought to an end. That does not mean that Bissau is totally free from the rebel after-shock. Drug barons have also exploited the fragile situation hence the country being a new transit point for drug dealers.

However, the down side about all of it is that what Vieira couldn’t do for over a decade, Gambia’s President is trying to do today.

Now all the rebels are in The Gambia on what seemed to be an open invitation by President Jammeh’s government. Their presence might be serving his short time political ambition by having them registered as voters who would help him win all elections; and also perhaps to provide him with private armies that will defend him against even the GNA if his adversaries against him take any military action. But on a long-term concern, Jammeh may be missing the very threat Vieira had missed for over a decade.

These rebels do not know how to work and will not even contemplate trying to do so as long as they can use force to seize people’s properties and get whatever they want. Stories of vicious criminals roaming the cities, towns and villages of The Gambia are now beginning to happen on regular basis. Effects of the global economic slump felt throughout the world could herald the same kind of difficulties in The Gambia as that of the kind experienced in Guinea Bissau after the Soviet Union terminated their financial support a decade ago. That will throw the country into a security nightmare requiring drastic measures to restore civility again. Bissau had to use all their military might to clean their country of these venoms. And I have my doubts as to whether the GNA could do the same if it came to that urgent necessity.

As for the Senegalese government, they seem to be comfortable with the situation as long as their problem in Cassamance is manageable. Battles between their forces and the rebels have reduced tremendously but the general problem is far from being over. The rebels will still not allow the Cassamance refugees in The Gambia to peacefully return home and live normally without the independence of the region. They are also selectively hitting targets of opportunity that might be negligible to the Senegalese.

But there are some ifs we seriously need to look into. If there was a change of government in The Gambia with a new policy refusing to accommodate the rebels in the country, that government will start by facing rebel combatants who will have nowhere to go if forced to leave. And forcing them back to Cassamance will re-start the war that is on temporary lull thanks to Jammeh’s careless or ignorant policies.

Or let’s say if Guinea Bissau had a change of government with President Vieira replaced by another leader still sympathetic to the rebels allowing them to operate from that area again. If that should find Jammeh still in power, then the Senegalese government must brace up for a serious trouble. That might be it-the independence of Cassamance.

The problem of Cassamance should therefore, be as much a concern to The Gambian people as it has always been to the Senegalese and Guinean peoples. Stabilizing Cassamance will also benefit Senegal equally as it would benefit The Gambia and Guinea. Yet I am afraid the three leaders in question, Wade, Jammeh and Vieira have nothing on their plates to aggressively work on settling the problem. Every one of them is in his quiet comfort zone pretending not to even notice the imminent crisis waiting for any trigger puller; or may be they are too overwhelmed with diplomatic fatigue to try any new initiatives. If the current temporary lull in the Cassamance conflict is what President Wade had alluded to in his pre-election campaign when he emphatically promised to bring final peace in the region, then an honest person needs to tell him that his objective is far from being achieved.

MFDC rebels being tried and jailed in The Gambia is a very serious issue compounding the problem beyond where it was, and I don’t think the average Gambian at home understands what the heck is going on with Jammeh and these weirdoes. I don’t even think Wade, Jammeh and Vieira understand what they are ignoring by not doing enough to permanently resolve the problem. Organizing meaningless Inter-Ministerial Meetings on phony ideas and topics are only good for wasted rhetoric and photo ops. SECURITY is the overriding topic.