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| Ousman Sonko, Jammeh's Interior Minister |
Ousman Sonko is known to be one of Yaya Jammeh's closest confidante and a prolific torturer who oversaw hundreds of torture sessions during his lengthy career under the dictatorship.
The other prolific torturer is Yankuba Badjie, Director General of the notorious National Intelligence Agency whose recent trip to Dakar that resulted in the assassination attempt of Musa Sarr, a former commando in Jammeh's army and who was allegedly took part in the December 30, 2014 attempt to unseat Jammeh. More on this story in subsequent blog posts.
Ousman Sonko was named and identified by the driver of one of the vehicles involved in the assassination of Deyda Hydara as the person in charge of tracking the Gambian journalist's car that fateful December night in 2004 as the journalist made his way home with two of his staff who were hitching a ride home
According to sources, Ousman Sonko mooted the idea of seeking to flee The Gambia to someone with the hope of securing asylum status. The reason he advanced, according to the source, is that he(Sonko) is convinced that the Gambian dictator has gone over his head with the killings of Gambians which, according to the source, has become uncontrollable and out of hand.
The regime of Yaya Jammeh has come under tremendous pressure lately from the international community and human rights organizations world-wide, and an increasing and loud demands from the United Nations Office of Human Rights and Amnesty International who are demanding an expedited and independent investigations into the death of Solo Sandeng. The European Parliament in turn passed a resolution that condemned "the forced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture and other human rights violations..." The resolution also recommends implementing travel bans of senior Jammeh officials.
Senegal would be a logical destination for many of Jammeh's killers since they will not be received in Europe or America, given recent developments. As we reported recently, some of these senior officials have already started sending their children and family members to the United States, as in the case of the Inspector General of Police and the Interior Minister Ousman Sonko. They have concluded that for them to be granted asylum in the United States and Western Europe would be difficult, of not impossible. Senegal, meanwhile, is extremely cautious, according to a source, especially after Senegal's borders and sovereignty were violated by assassins sent by Jammeh to kill his opponents.
Watch this space for an evolving story ...
