Warning to Yaya Jammeh about the safety of Ousainou Darboe and others under arrest

Ousainou Darbor and several members of his United Democratic Party's executive and other prominent members were arrested while peacefully expressing their opposition to dictatorship and concurrently demanding the release of UDP and other youth who were arrested and detained a few days earlier.

According to a press release posted in the official Facebook page of the UDP, Ousainou Darboe and at least six executives of his party were arrested and taken away by members of the security forces to an unknown destination.  They must not be harmed in any way.

We demand their immediate release and unharmed.  There will be chaos should anything happen to any one of them.  Meanwhile, we are serving notice to Jammeh and his sycophantic supporters that protest demonstrations will continue until he steps down from the presidency.

Dictatorship in The Gambia must end now and Yaya Jammeh must step down from the presidency. Since seizing power from a democratically elected government in 1994, he has proven to be incompetent, corrupt and repressive, using unconstitutional and illegal means to perpetuate himself in power, destroying Gambia's economy in the process.

Enough is enough.  #JammehMustGo

Presidential guards defy Jammeh's orders, will not shoot at civilians

Dictator Yaya Jammeh 

Reliable sources are reporting that the elite presidential guard commonly referred to as State Guard has indicated that they will not shoot at unarmed civilians currently mounting a sustained protest in the outskirts of the capital city of Banjul.

The refusal by the State Guard to shoot at protesters is in defiance of orders issued by Yaya Jammeh, the Gambian dictator who has ruled this tiny nation of 2 million.  His brute use of force, violence and fear is what made him stay in power for 22 years.  Now his power is being challenged by a determined number of Gambians, and it looks like the stand-off is paying off because the military appears to have fragmented further with the State Guard siding with the civilian population.

Jammeh who is still in Ankara, Turkey, where he was attending the Summit of the Organization of Islamic States is directing the uprising by telephone to the other sections of his security apparatus by relying on his Interior Minster, Ousman Sonko, the Inspector General of Police, Ousman Badgie, the Director of National Intelligence Agency, Yankuba Badjie (who's conducting all the torturing) and the head of the paramilitary Unit.

As long as these factions continue to stay loyal, Jammeh can expect to continue to be holed up in Ankara rendering his reentry into Banjul via Banjul International Airport a very dicey proposition. With very few friends in the region, Jammeh's options are very limited which complicates the situation.  And unless the security environment improves significantly in the next few days - a highly unlikely scenario - he will be left twisting slowly in the wind.

The opposition parties have, meanwhile, stepped up their game by dominating the social media campaign with the help of international human rights organizations who are concerned about the deteriorating security atmosphere in a country that is known for its poor human rights record.  A senior military officer speaking anonymously is quoted as saying "why allow him (meaning Jammeh) to return only to have us killed.  He's done it numerous times before, why is it going to be any different this time around if we allow him entry into the country."    

GAMBIA: Press Release on the arrest of the opposition party leader

Ousainou Darboe, UDP Leader

PRESS RELEASE ON THE ARREST OF THE EXECUTIVE OF THE UNITED DEMOCRATIC PARTY (UDP)

The leadership of the United Democratic Party (UDP) wishes to inform the international community about the continuing brutal crackdown of its entire executive members and other peace loving Gambians who were out this morning to demand the release of about 25 demonstrators arrested on Thursday 14^th April 2016.

Currently, the UDP Leader who is also our party’s Secretary General, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and at least six other executive members have been arrested and whisked away to an unknown destination. Several other peaceful demonstrators were severely wounded when security forces led by officers from the State Guards (the president’s own personal security guards) opened live ammunition on the crowd.

Today’s peaceful march was triggered by the arrest and detention of about 25 Gambian youths who were out in the streets peacefully demanding electoral reforms. Apparently, seven of those arrested were youth members of the UDP executive. They were brutally tortured and so far the UDP can confirm that three of its seven young executive members have died in state custody following two days of continued brutal torture meted out to them.

The UDP crowd was on its way to the police station that arrested the youths on Thursday to demand for their release when the security forces descended on the peaceful marchers.

The UDP vehemently condemns this barbaric act of savagery by the security forces. We wholly blame the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Yahya Jammeh of whatever might happen to our executive and other youth leaders in custody now for three days.

The UDP further calls on the international community particularly the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to immediately intervene to stop the brutal crackdown on the opposition.

We are deeply worried about the continuous silence of the international community at a time when The Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh has put in place mechanisms to not only entrench himself in power by constricting the democratic space but also using all illegal means and the full force of the security forces to visit terror on defenceless Gambians.

The UDP and indeed all the other Gambian opposition parties are not demanding anything other than a free, fair and credible electoral process. And we shall not relent in this demand. Gambia cannot be an island where its leaders perpetuate self-rule through fraudulent and sham elections.

 

We are notifying the international community and indeed member countries of ECOWAS and AU of this ongoing crackdown on the UDP. This is a threat made good by the President who has repeatedly and openly stated his preparedness to do everything to stay in power even if it means spilling innocent blood.

 

President Jammeh has all along wanted to make the Gambia a one party state but this dream has not been fulfilled because of the uncompromised position of the combined opposition against the idea. We will not compromise our rights to engage in party politics. And we will not give in to threats from any quarters.

We are calling on all UDP militants across the country to remain vigilant. Peaceful demonstration is a right guaranteed under the constitution of The Gambia and this should not be compromised. The authorities can arrest the entire executive of the UDP but they cannot break our determined will to a Gambia where democracy prevails.

Long Live The Gambia

Long Live Democracy

Long Live The United Democratic Party (UDP).

Gambia's Information Minister orders shut-down of the internet as protests against Jammeh spread

Gambia's Information Minister, Sheriff Bojang 

As protests against the tyrannical regime of The Gambia grow,  Jammeh's Information Minister, a journalist himself, orders internet service providers to shut down operations, in a desperate effort to contain  the pent-up anger and frustration of a population that has lived under the yoke of one of Africa's most corrupt, repressive and inept regime.

Demonstrations have been going on intermittently since a couple of days ago led by a young dynamic youth leader named Solo Sandeng who was also a member f the Executive of the country's biggest opposition party.

The youth leader was arrested and tortured,  He died as a result of his injuries he apparently sustained while in the custody of the notorious National Intelligence Agency agents.

It is because of his death that the protests resumed today with the leader of the United Democratic Party, Ousainou Darboe, members of his Executive and party faithfuls, joined by ordinary citizens.

The regime's strategy appears to be to deny the protesters access to the online media in the Gambian diaspora that has proven to be far superior in every aspect than what the regime's, and once that is achieved Jammeh hopes that the protest will die down.  The opposite appears to be the case as the protests spread to other parts of the Greater Banjul areas.

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Jammeh warns the West not to infer while protests in Gambia continue, gun fire being reported, opposition leader Darboe arrested

Following the death by torture of Solo Sandeng, the UDP, the leader of Gambia's leading opposition party, led the rest of his Executive and ordinary members are out in the streets to demand for the release of all those arrested following Wednesday's protest against the dictatorship of Yaya Jammeh, one of Africa's most brutal and corrupt.

Interviewed on online radio Gainako, Mrs. Fatoumata Tanbajang has confirmed the arrest of Ousainou Darboe who was seen being taken away in a truck with several of his party members.
Omar Jallow, commonly known as O.J. is making his way to join his colleagues.

Meanwhile Yaya Jammeh who is still in Ankara where he attended the OIC Summit has been directing the mayhem that occured the past couple of days that have resulted in scores of demonstrators arrested some of whom have been tortured and one dead as a result of injuries suffered which has resulted in today's demonstrations.

The situation is tense and people are being ask to join the demonstrators in the streets of Serrekunda, the outskirts of the capital of Banjul.  Calls are already coming for Jammeh to step down.

The shots that were earlier reported were not directed at the demonstrators but rather were shots being fired in the air by paramilitary.  This is a developing story.  

GAMBIA: Solo Sandeng and Alhagie Ceesay, two torture victims die at the hands of Jammeh's security agents

Youth Leader and protester -Ebrima Solo Sandeng

Radio journalist Alhagie Abdoulie Ceesay 

Solo Sandeng, a youth leader in Gambia's largest opposition party, the United Democratic Party, and Alhagie Abdoulie Ceesay a radio journalist who has been in the custody of the notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA) have both died of torture wounds inflicted by Jammeh's torture team. Both underwent severe torture sessions and both died of internal injuries as a result.

In the case of Solo Sandeng, he was leading a demonstration against the dictatorship in the outskirts of the Gambian capital city of Banjul in the suburb of Serrekunda when he and other protesters were arrested.   They were peacefully protesting against the draconian electoral laws, including the recently passed Electoral (Amendment) Act of 2015, clearly designed to disqualify many, if not all, of the opposition parties including Sandeng's own United Democratic Party from the scheduled December 2016 presidential elections.  .

It was while leading the protest that a truck load of paramilitary personnel arrested him and many others.  Our sources put the number of those arrested at thirty, including Solo Sandeng.  They were rushed to the notorious Mile II and from where they were transported in groups of five to the NIA headquarters, a mile and a half away, to be tortured.  We have reported extensively, in the past couple of days, the ordeal that these young men had to endure.  You can find the relevant blogs posts here and here.

The torture sessions on Wednesday night proved to be too much for the young youth leader.  As we reported on Thursday, Solo Sandeng was in a coma as a result and he never recovered consciousness. He died of his injuries today, Friday.

According to our source, when Yaya Jammeh, the Gambian dictator was informed in the early hours of the morning of Friday that Mr. Sandeng had died, a panicked Jammeh directed his Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Yankuba Badjie, to bury the youth leader's body at the NIA premises at Tanji village, a tourism resort area in the Tourism Development Area, a few miles from the city of Banjul..

In the case of the 25-year old journalist, Alhagie Abdoulie Ceesay, he has been held in the remand wing of the Mile II prisons for over 200 days.  During his long stay, he has been tortured severely on numerous occasions.  In addition to the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of Jammeh's torturers, he was charged with sedition for sending a photo image of Jammeh with a gun to his head, according to the police.

During his 9 months ordeal, the radio journalist suffered an enlarged liver, among other internal injuries.  The judge presiding over his case is a Nigerian national by the name of Simeon Abi who was deliberately delaying the case at the instruction of Jammeh as a means of further punishment of the young man by letting him go through excruciating pain during an unending trial that was still on at the time of his death which, we have been informed that took place last Monday night or Tuesday morning.  We do not have information on where he was buried.

We have written over two dozen blog posts on the plight of Alhagie Ceesay too numerous to delineate here. We will, therefore, refer you to the Open Letter we wrote last September to the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency complaining about the journalist's case and many other abuses inflicted on Gambians by the judiciary by demanding the resignations of numerous Nigerian judges who are referred to locally as mercenary judges.  You can find the open letter here.

At the time of going to press, Yaya Jammeh is still in Ankara, Turkey attending the Summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference from where a strange statement from him was drafted and read over Gambia Radio and Television Service (GRTS) a state-controlled propaganda outlet this evening warning the Western powers to stay out of Gambia's internal affairs.

In light of the deaths of Solo Sandeng and Alhagie Abdoulie at the hands of Jammeh's torture squad, and in retrospect, the statement is seen for what it is - a clumsy attempt at preempting the anticipated fall-out that is likely to occur as a result of the deaths of these two young men that's consistent with  his deplorable human rights record that spans his entire 22-year dictatorship.

In view of these latest tragic events, we continue to urge the Gambian people to rise up and take their country back from a regime that is repressive, corrupt and incompetent.  Gambia deserves better.

Thirty protesters for electoral reform tortured and Ebrima Solo Sandeng in coma

Thirty protesters, including the United Democratic Party (UDP) youth leader of the biggest opposition party, who were arrested yesterday, are currently being severely tortured at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

My sources are telling me that Ebrima Solo Sandeng who led the demonstration is currently in coma after undergoing several torture sessions at the hands of a selected group of torturers different from the normal group.

The thirty protesters are all held at the notorious Mile II prisons and are being taken in groups of five to the equally notorious NIA headquarters to be tortured.

The torturers, according to my sources, have been carefully selected by Yankuba Badjie, the Director General of the NIA. According to the same source, all but two of the members of the torture team are from the Jola tribe which is suggesting a change in procedure worth noting as we move towards the December presidential elections.

The torturers are being supplied with large quantities of alcohol by the NIA Director General and are always in drunken state before encountering their victims.  The torture sessions are being video taped at the instructions of the Gambian dictator from Ankara, Turkey where he is attending the Summit of the Organization Islamic Congress.

Meanwhile our sources are working diligently to get further information on the identities of the twenty-nine other protesters currently undergoing torture.