Kartong youths reportedly released; it remains addressing their concerns

The People of Kartong

It is being reported from reliable sources that the Gambian dictator, Yaya Jammeh, has taken the unilateral decision of ordering the release of all the Kartong youth arrested and sent to the notorious Mile II prisons.

"The release of the illegally detained Kartong youth is a welcome development but hardly satisfactory," says Coach Pa Samba Jow of the Washington-based DUGA.

"It is not within the president's powers to file a nolle prosequi.  The responsibility lies entirely with the Attorney General," says an experienced lawyer and keen observer of developments in the Gambia who also said that Jammeh could not claim to have pardoned them when they have not been found guilty of any wrong doing.

Parading these innocent youths before television cameras to beg for mercy - a cheap propaganda ploy employed by Jammeh will not the regime well in the event that that is what is being contemplated.

The youth were protesting against mining activities in Kartong that threaten their livelihood with equally damaging effects on the immediate communities.  These issues relate to the mining of sand and other heavy minerals in Kartong that is destroying the environment, dotting the landscape with open pits and heavy metal residue that pollute the streams and the soil, making life considerably more difficult for the population.

The mining is being done by KGI, a company owned by the very same dictator who has decided to release the Kartong youth.  The official action must go beyond simply releasing the youth.  The concerns of Kartong residence must be addressed to the satisfaction of the village residence.

Similar issues of concern exist in other parts of the Kombos and across the country where agricultural land belonging to the communities have been forfeited to the Gambian dictator, threatening the traditional tenure system.  These lands must be returned to its rightful owners : the respective rural communities across the country.

  

Kartong people standing up for their rights

Amnesty International has joined a host of others in calling for the release of all of the peaceful protesters who have been jailed because they were exercising their rights to petition their government for what they see as a policy detrimental to their livelihood and harmful to the environment as a result of inappropriate land use policies and mining practices.

"A blanket crackdown on protesters is not acceptable.  The right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly must not be unduly curtailed because of the suspected unlawful behavior of some individuals," said Sabrina Mahtani Amnesty International's West Africa researcher.

We are reminding supporters of the 33 Kartong youth, including a 70 year old man who is in poor health, to show support and attend  the court proceedings at the Brikama Magistrate Court, tomorrow, Tuesday, December 1st.

The devastating effects of sand and heavy metal mining on the welfare of local communities

The environment is inextricably linked to the economy, and thus the welfare of rural populations everywhere - and The Gambia is no exception.  In fact, in a least developed economy such as ours, the consequences can be devastating and, in many cases, irreversible.  Recent protests in the village of Kartong against the environmental degradation caused by indiscriminate mining practices, threatening to  render Kartong and satellite villages inhabitable have attracted attention to a problem that has been over a decade in the making.

Traditional land use has been radically altered, limiting and, in many cases, denying access to villagers to agricultural land as a result of mining activities.  The women of Kartong are particularly hard hit because they have lost land that once was used for vegetable gardening - a primary source of income for the women of the communities in the Kombos.  Vegetables produced in these gardens were sold to tourist hotels and in open air markets in the area.   A reduced level of income earned from gardening will inevitably contribute to an increase in the incidence of rural poverty.

The destruction is not limited to the economic livelihood of area residents.  The physical impact of the inappropriate land use policies of the regime of Yaya Jammeh is beginning to affect the contour of the land around the village and thus disturbing the natural habitat of wildlife.  There are reports of crocodiles being displaced from their natural habitat and, at least a child falling into an open mining pit leading to his death.

As a result of recently held protest matches by village residents, thirty-three youths from the area have been arrested and subsequently denied bail.  Reports suggest that they are being held in the maximum security wing of the notorious Mile II prisons, together with convicted murderers, rapists and hardened criminals.

Mining is being done exclusively by the Gambian dictator with little or no financial returns to the community.  Instead, he has engaged the services of an Area Councillor in the name of  Lamin Jamba Jammeh as part of his management team of his company (KGI) who is also representing Kartong in the Area Council.

KARTONG : A sign of things to come

The young people of Kartong are protesting not against the regime. Instead, they are protesting against government's inappropriate environmental policy that is threatening their immediate surroundings, including traditional public sites that villagers no longer have access due to annexation.

Central to Kartong's problems, as in most of the Kombo, is inappropriate land use adopted by the regime, exacerbated by greed and deliberate exploitative policies that benefit individuals at the expense of communities, the owners and settlers of the land.

Yaya Jammeh, his business associates and cronies are the immediate beneficiaries of inappropriate land use policies by using the right of eminent domain in the most insidious way to expropriate public and communal land for private use.  Profits generated as a result, unfortunately, go directly into private pockets with zero returns to the village communities that are left to fend for themselves in an environment that has been degraded and rendered unproductive as a result of mining activities.

The economic costs to these communities are huge.  Expropriated land that once served as farmland and vegetable gardens for the women folk of the villages no longer belong to the communities, thus leaving them with no alternative source of earning a livelihood.

The mining activities in Kartong and surrounding villages, mainly owned and operated by Yaya Jammeh and his cronies, have devastated the environment and disrupted village life, leaving villagers with no recourse.  They are not even allowed to protests against environmental degradation without being arrested, tortured and jailed.

The regime must engage the communities in the Kombos with the view to finding an equitable solution to problems brought about by inappropriate environmental policies driven by the personal greed of a handful of people.  The state, like the village residents, is also being equally deprived of revenue as a result of the current practice of expropriating land for private use with little or no benefit accruing to the public treasury.

The current practices are unsustainable, environmentally as well as socially and politically, and thus must be addressed urgently,  The village communities must take control of their communal land. Kartong residents are demanding the restoration of such rights, and neighboring communities will soon follow

Morocco denies Jammeh entry for medical treatment, while Saudi Arabia approves

The Gambian dictator 

The Gambian dictator's health has become a major source of concern for both his Syrian and Moroccan doctors who have been frantically working around the clock to keep their patient comfortable.

It is also being reported that the Moroccan doctors have taken full charge of Jammeh's care with the Syrians taking a supporting role.  Reasons for the change is still unclear but the possibility exists that Zeinab Jammeh may have a hand in the change. Jammeh's tour of the provinces was interrupted for several days in Basse as a result of a series of medical conditions that will require him to travel abroad for further treatment.

Official arrangements for Jammeh to seek medical treatment abroad suffered a set-back when his first choice of Morocco was unsuccessful.  However, Saudi Arabia stepped in to grant him a visa for medical treatment but cannot depart until he sort out the vexing problem of who will be in charge while he is away.

According to our sources, Jammeh was denied an entry visa to Morocco in spite of his status and the fact that he's married to a Moroccan.  When the question was posed to a former Gambian diplomat as to the possible reason or reasons for the humiliating treatment of the Gambian dictator, she responded by suggesting that Jammeh has become more of a liability because of his "international pariah status" and "his recent spat with Senegal, one of Morocco's closest ally - a very special relationship between the two countries - will not help Jammeh."

Jammeh has limited options available to him because he has decided that going to the West for medical treatment would be risky because of his unpopularity in Europe and the United States.  He has told associates that he doesn't trust the West with his health, despite the fact that he was in France for medical treatment in January of 2014.

Saudi's decision to grant Jammeh visa for medical treatment did not come as a surprise.  Many African leaders have sought not only medical treatment in Saudi Arabia ( Umaru Yar'Adua and Meles Zenawi) but also political asylum such as Adi Amin Dada.

Power struggle underway in The Gambia

Murmurings of Yaya Jammeh's deteriorating health condition that started with his January 2014 Paris trip, have grown louder recently with more credible eyewitness accounts of blackouts, vomiting and other discomforts that the dictator has been experiencing during his current tour of the provinces.

Some of these reports have been supported by photos of a face that is dotted with facial lesions and swellings accompanied by profuse sweating.
Because of the personal and confidential nature of health issues - even when it involves the health of the Gambian dictator - we will refrain from elaborating further, except to say that his purported poor health has spawned public interest, especially in the online media community, rattled the trust and confidence of members of Jammeh's inner circle and raised the troubling question of succession, even if it is for someone to hold the fort temporarily.  And never mind that there is a Vice President who, constitutionally, should be the successor ad interim.

Ansumana Jammeh 

The inner circle of the Jammeh cartel comprising of the Gambian businessman Amadou Samba,  the Lebanese businessman Mohamed Bazzi and Jammeh's own brother Ansumana Jammeh have started to position their respective candidates to necessarily and substantively succeed Jammeh as president but to oversee the regime while Jammeh go on medical treatment.

For example, Ansumana Jammeh who is Managing Director of KGI ( a Jammeh-owned company ) and operator or of the Kartong sand mining site was seen traveling to Kartong the day after the mass arrest of the youth protesters in a 20-vehicle convoy of security personnel, including soldiers from Kanilai.  The show of force achieved two objectives (i) to intimidate the villagers and (ii) to display contempt for the soldiers stationed at the Kartong barracks by bypassing them and coming to the village with the Kanilai contingent instead.

Ansumana Jammeh's recent moves is seen as testing the waters.  He is increasingly seeing himself as successor to the throne but so are others, including but not limited to Edward Singhateh and Lamin Kabba Bajo. All of these have sponsors within the dictator's inner circles.  It is evident that the power struggle has started before Jammeh goes on medical treatment abroad.

33 youthful environmentalists sent to Mile II Prisons after bail denial by Magistrate Hilary Abeke

Magistrate Hilary Utebe Abeke

Following our blog post of Nov. 23 on the arrests of dozens of protesting youths from the village of Kartong and the partial list of those arrested after a compound to compound search by the security agents of the dictatorship, several more arrests village folks were made.  The exact amount is unknown as police continue their dragnet.

According to reports, however, approximately thirty three young protesters have been arraigned before Senior Magistrate Hilary Utebe Abeke who quickly denied them bail and subsequently remanded in jail at the notorious Mile II prisons.

According to eye witnesses who were among the three hundred villagers and supporters of the protesters who attended the court proceedings, some of the protesters displayed visible marks to their bodies suggesting that they have been tortured.

We intend to continue to report on this developing story......