U.S. Embassy in Banjul closed following unexpected withdrawal of police protection by Jammeh

U.S. Embassy , Banjul, The Gambia 

The American Embassy in Banjul is closed today, Thursday, June 9th to non-essential services as a result of the unexpected withdrawal of police protection by the regime of Yaya Jammeh.

As usual practice of the regime of Jammeh in anything it does, the withdrawal of police protection of the embassy came without notice or explanation thus contravening a basic diplomatic protocol by a host country that's obligated to provide the police protection service.  It is the Government of The Gambia's obligation under the Geneva Convention.

The dictatorship has come under heavy criticism in recent weeks following the violent use of force to crack down on the opposition parties protesting for electoral reforms and subsequently against the death in custody of a youth leader of the United Democratic Party who was arrested for leading the initial demonstrations.

The Jammeh regime's has become increasingly isolated internationally because of its poor human rights record and high level of corruption which led to the suspension of development aid by the European Union, the single biggest donor of such aid to The Gambia.

The latest behavior of the idiosyncratic leader of one of Africa's most brutal, corrupt and incompetent regime is one more proof that the Obama Administration of playing softy with Jammeh is not bearing the desired effect of getting the regime to respect international conventions and protocols expected of all respectable members of the Community of Nations.

Jammeh has proven, once again, the erratic nature of his personality that makes him the unreliable development and security partner he has proven to be over the years.    

Yaya Jammeh : The dictator and the control freak

History has taught us that dictators are dictators because they are control freaks.  They need to know everything going on around them as well as having the desire to control events and outcomes, however ridiculously impossible it might be at times.

The walk-out by Ousainou Darboe's defense team from the court room today was a direct result of Jammeh, according to sources close to the dictator.  We are being told that the reason the armed soldiers are insistently interrupting by invading the private space of the defense team during consultations with the defendants in contravention of laywer-client confidentiality is because they are directly ordered to do so by Jammeh.

The armed soldiers have been instructed to interrupt the consultations and occupy the space so that information about the prison conditions and the treatment of the defendants is not leaked through the defense team to the outside world.

Since the demonstrations started in April, Jammeh and his regime have suffered from bad international press that led to a series of condemnations, culminating in the European Parliament's resolution recommending sanctions by individual member states of the EU, including travel ban on senior officials of his embattled regime.

Jammeh seem to have had enough for now and thus is trying to prevent more bad news coming out of the defendants which can only add to his current woes which has resulted in the bizarre and usual behavior of the armed soldiers leading to the current crisis.   Instead of the defendants being on trial, it is Jammeh and his corrupt and unjust judiciary that is on trial in full view of the international community.

Jammeh's army readying for elections?

One of the numerous personal guards of the Gambian dictator seen here controlling the crowd as they get close to Jammeh during his most recent political tour of the provinces.   This is preview of what Gambians are likely to see as the scheduled presidential elections draw closer, the campaign heats up and the rhetoric gets more tribal and bellicose.  Those opposition parties determined to take part in a process that is already rigged will have to withstand the intimidation that is certain to be an integral part of Jammeh strategy.

The defense team in the Darboe and co case walks out

Nigerian Mercenary Judges including Justice  Dada  

To watch Justice E. O. Dada, a member of the Nigerian mercenary contingent recently recruited by Mr. S.H. Barkum, Director of Public Prosecution who is also a Nigerian, behave in such unprofessional and insolent towards the defense team brings shame to both the legal profession and to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in the case of Ousainou Darboe and co.

Mr. Darboe is the Opposition leader who is a defendant in the case is part of the defense led by Antouman Gaye, a legal luminary of nearly half a century of practicing law.  There is over a century of legal practice between the two legal luminaries - not counting the half a dozen others representing the full defense team.

Justice E.O. Dada displayed her lack of legal knowledge and judicial temperament by her continuous denial of defense's motions and an insatiable appetite for rudeness towards the defendants.  The motion to drop four of the seven charges and to retain the three original charges was denied.

This was just the beginning of, what amounted to intransigence that suggests that Judge Dada was following the regime's playbook of frustrating the defense by denying every motion.  When the defense team asked to consult  with its clients in private, a room was provided only to have it invaded by gun-totting soldiers who insisted to listening in, thus contravening the right of the defendants to privacy and a breach of the attorney/client privileged.

When the defense appealed to Judge Dada to intervene on their behalf, she said she cannot prevent the military from listening in.  As a result the defense team walked out of the court room, led by Mr. Antouman Gaye and they have vowed not to return until the attorney/client confidentiality is respected by Judge Dada.  The defendants, through Mr. Ousainou Darboe, have also vowed not to take part in any court proceedings without the right to consult with their lawyers in total and absolute privacy.  No military personnel will be allowed to listen in  during consultations with their lawyers.

We have also learned that the Director of Public Prosecution, S. H. Barkum met Chief Justice Fagbenle who was fired three weeks ago and has been 'temporarily reinstated' to work on the strategy the regime will take given recent developments that may affect the desired outcome.  The Chief Justice who initial firing was as a result of the advise he gave the regime that all of the defendants should discharged because there was no case must be ensuring that he does not get himself into more trouble with the Gambian dictator.

What the world is witnessing is a kangaroo court on steroids.  What a shame that the Gambian judiciary would end up in this circus atmosphere. Thanks to Yaya Jammeh, a collections of judges- and prosecutors-for-hire and a group of malfeasance ready to do the bidding for a brutal, corrupt and incompetent regime.

Why Gambians are poorer and hungrier under Yaya Jammeh

Yaya Jammeh's $ 3.4 million Potomac Mansion 

The fact that the Gambia is one of the poorest countries in the world with a world ranking of 175 out of 188 countries in the United Nations Development Program's 2015 Human Development Index with nearly half the population living in absolute poverty is not sufficient deterrence for the Gambian dictator to exert financial discipline and curb corruption in absolute defiance of the International Monetary Fund.

The European Union's Ambassador to The Gambia reminded the regime that the failure to diversify the economy is one reasons why half of Gambians live below the poverty line, and many of them - about 60% -  live in a rural setting. 600,000 Gambians are food  insecure, meaning that they cannot afford three square meals a day. And when agriculture is neglected, despite the noise generated by the Jammeh machine about "growing with you eat and eating what you grow", rural poverty to aggravated levels with longer and than severe ever hungry seasons.  No wonder, acute hunger and malnutrition is prevalent in areas around the central, northern and the most eastern parts of the country.

Zainab Jammeh in Malaysia 

The numbers are very depressing as they are but when they are juxtaposed with the luxurious lifestyles of Yaya Jammeh and his wife, the contrast is repulsive and unconscionable.  For those who knew him as an ordinary military police, they will tell you that Jammeh was poorer than a church mouse when he seized power in 1994.  To be worth hundreds of million to a billions of dollars - depending on the source - a couple of decades later, from his job as President of one of the world's poorest country on earth, is reason enough to start questioning the sources of such illicit wealth.

Jammeh's interference in every sector and aspect of the economy is a primary source of frustration for foreign investors and local operators, most of whom had to relocate in more business friendly environment in the region with Senegal and Guinea-Bissau being two of the biggest regional winners. Instead if being the best president that he could be, Jammeh spent the last 22 years building a business empire, using state resources, refusing to pay taxes and undercutting the competition in the process.  The result is many businesses, both locally and foreign owned were bankrupted while he painstakingly protected a select few businesses who support his politics and help supplement financially his expensive lifestyle as a price of doing business in The Gambia.

Meanwhile, Jammeh continues to amass wealth with a mansion valued at $3.5 million near Washington DC, despite his anti-American, anti-Western rhetoric, and numerous businesses reportedly owned by his wife in Morocco and Guinea. "Rampant corruption" was the reason Jammeh advanced in seizing power in 1994. Gambia is a more corrupt country today than in 1994 according to Transparency International.  This is one more reason why Yaya Jammeh must vacate the State House at the end of his current term.  The consensus now is that 22 years of high level corruption coupled with a high degree of incompetence displayed by Jammeh and his team is enough. #JammehMustGo    

Gambia's Interior Minister Sonko seeking to defect

Ousman Sonko, Jammeh's Interior Minister 

You know the regime is in deep trouble when the de facto Number Two man in the murderous regime of Yaya Jammeh is seeking to defect, according to a source close to Senegalese intelligence.

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 ...    

The continued madness of Yaya Jammeh

Jammeh and ADC

Yaya Jammeh was a "no-show" again at the ECOWAS Summit that convened in Dakar this past weekend under the chairmanship of President Macky Sall of Senegal.

As doyen of the ECOWAS Heads of State of 22 years standing, Jammeh status within the regional body defies rationality.

Despite his longevity as dictator of The Gambia and a member of the ECOWAS since he seized power in 1994, he is still the outsider, looking in, as he is bypassed for the chairmanship for twenty one consecutive years which is a record in itself.

His contempt for his colleagues as a result has grown with time as he isolates himself progressively from both ECOWAS and the world.  Of course, his international isolation has been mostly of his own doing as he insults and sulks his way to the dog house of the international community.  The process started with his pull out from the Commonwealth that, to Jammeh, is a neocolonialist institution to his decision a month later to server diplomatic ties with his most benevolent and dependable friend - Taiwan - over his persistent demand for financial assistance that he diverts for his personal use.

Regionally, Jammeh has been an equally disruptive force and a thorn in the flesh of many of his neighbors, especially those in his immediate vicinity. Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.  For example in mid-February this year, Jammeh decided to increase the TransGambia highway tariff by 10,000% without notice, in contravention of existing bilateral and regional protocols which led to the border between Gambia and Senegal being closed for more than three months.

To open the border, Senegal extracted from a clueless regime as much as eleven concessions, ranging from reaffirming its commitment to building the bridge to extraditing a Senegalese common criminal who escaped prison and was being harbored by Jammeh.  Needless to say that the closure caused economic disruptions and revenue shortfalls in both countries but Gambia is likely to be impacted more when final assessments are done.  

Sooner than the borders were opened than Jammeh found more reasons to cause more rancor with Senegal and with the international community, all in one interview with Jeune Afrique.  First, he threatened to attack Senegal and then said that both Ban Ki-moon, U.N. Secretary General and Amnesty International can go to hell.  Why?  Because both demanded full and impartial investigations into the death in custody of Ebrima Solo Sandeng - opposition youth leader - and others who were arrested last moth during protest demonstrations demanding electoral reforms.

Jammeh could not understand why all the fuss about the opposition party your leader's death in custody when he told Jeune Afrique that "people die in detention or during interrogation; it's common."  One person died, so what, Jammeh seems to be saying to the interviewer before definitively concluding that he was not going to investigate.

Whether, Jammeh realized that he had admitted what many had reported and denied by the regime that, indeed, Ebrima Solo Sandeng was tortured to death by his (Jammeh's) own security agents at the notorious National Intelligence Agency torture chambers is unclear.