President Adama Barrow will attend an Extra Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Governments of ECOWAS scheduled for 30th May 2021 in Accra, Ghana, State House has said.
“Following the recent Coup d’Etat in Mali, President Barrow will join other Heads of State and Governments to discuss the situation in the country.
“The meeting is a collective regional effort geared towards restoring democracy as well as strengthening peace and security in the region,” State House said in a terse statement.
Police have said they are investigating the alleged rape of an 11-year-old boy.
Police said in a statement today: “The Office of the Inspector General of Police hereby informs the public that it is investigating a case of an alleged rape of a 11 year old boy which was reported on the 22nd May, 2021 at Old Jeshwang.
“Crime scene investigators visited the scene and a criminal investigation into the matter is underway.
The Police Gender and Child Protection Department in consultation with relevant stakeholders is arranging to provide psycho-social support to the victim and his family.
“On the other hand, the widespread publicity into delicate and sensitive investigations is of grave concern; as it has the potential to adversely impede the progress of the investigations. Especially, in cases where suspects are yet to be arrested.
“In this regard, affected parents/guardians, victims of crime and media practitioners are urged to always consult with the Police Informations Department to support in solving crime and ensure timely information dissemination.
“The suspect in this case is described as a tall, built and dark in complexion middle aged man. Members of the public with relevant information or clues about this alleged rape incident are encouraged to come forward to assist Police efforts in solving the case. The Office of the IGP solicits the usual cooperation and understanding of the public.”
By AP
More than 180 Europe-bound migrants were intercepted by Libya’s coast guard and returned to the North African country’s Mediterranean shores, the U.N.’s migration agency said on Thursday.
A total of 187 migrants were provided emergency assistance before being taken into detention centers, International Organization for Migration tweeted.
“We maintain that the country is not a safe port and that the arbitrary detention of migrants must end,” it said.
In the years since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, war-torn Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
Smugglers often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber boats that stall and founder along the perilous central Mediterranean route.
In recent years, the European Union has partnered with Libya’s coast guard and other local groups to stem such dangerous sea crossings.
Rights groups, however, say those policies leave migrants at the mercy of armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers rife with abuses.
The National Human Rights Commission has commended police for their zero crime campaign but warned they have the obligation to respect and protect the fundamental human rights of suspects.
In a statement, NHRC said: “The spate of crimes has necessitated the Gambia Police Force to embark on ‘Operation Zero Crime’ to protect lives and property, maintain peace and security and halt the rise in crimes.
“The patrols which took place between 2nd April to 16th May 2021 led to arrest of 881 suspected offenders, busted criminal gangs and brought some security to communities which have been living in fear.
“The Commission wishes to commend the Police high command for this great effort while reminding the personnel in the ‘Operation Zero Crime’ that they have the obligation to respect and protect the fundamental human rights of suspects and these must never be violated or infringed at any time. It is the Courts which have the powers to determine the guilt or otherwise of suspects and impose the appropriate sentence.”
The Gambia government said on Thursday it is expecting a delivery of more than 3000 metric tonnes of what the government calls ‘high-quality’ rice which will be put for sale to interested buyers.
The rice comes in bags of 30 kilograms clearly marked ‘Japanese Grant’ and shall be sold in lots of 2500 bags per lot at the cost of Four Hundred and Fifty Dalasi (D450.00) per bag, State House said in a statement.
All interested buyers are requested to apply and send applications to Secretary General Office of the President.
All applications must be received not later than 2nd June 2021, State House added.
Seven days after the demise of a fatal plane crash of former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru, President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff.
Prior to his appointment, Major General Yahaya was the incumbent Theatre Commander of the Counter-Terrorism/Counter-Insurgency military outfit in the North East, code-named Operation Hadin Kai.
He took over from Major General Olusegun Adeniyi as Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole on March 31 2020, before it was renamed Operation Hadin Kai by late Ibrahim Attahiru last Month, April 2021.
He was General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna before his deployment to Operation Hadin Kai. At several times, he was the Military Secretary, (MS) Army at Army headquarters and Brigade Commander, 4 Brigade, Benin as a Brigadier General. Major General Farouk Yahaya of Regular Course 37 is from Zamfara State.
Instructively, Major General Yahaya’s appointment from the position of Brigade Commander up to the position of Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai were all done by former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai (rtd).
With the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor being a Regular Course 34 Intake, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao both being Regular Course 35 intakes, Major General Yahaya becomes the most junior service chief as Course 37.
The implication is that about 20 Major Generals and Brigadier Generals made up of 5 remaining Regular Course 35 intakes and 15 Regular Course 36 intakes would have to proceed to give way (proceed on retirement) as they cannot be saluting their junior going by military tradition. (Vanguard Nigeria)
Police confirmed arresting four people over a fatal stabbing incident at Westfield earlier this month.
Senegalese national Serigne Mbacké Fall was allegedly stabbed by unknown men who tried to rob him on May 14.
His father told Senegalese media his slain son was on his way to send some money to him when he met his fate.
Police spokesman Lamin Njie said: “We can confirm that four individuals are currently under arrest and helping police in their investigations into the stabbing incident at Westfield. They are all Gambians.”
The ministry of health confirmed today two people tested positive for the notorious India Cov-19 variant after they travelled into the country from India.
In a statement today, the ministry said: “Ministry of Health (MoH) in response to COVID-19 continues to monitor all new Corona virus variants from UK, South Africa and of recent the variant identified in India (B.1.617). This is to inform the general public that, the Ministry of Health (MoH) surveillance system detected two travelers who arrived in the Gambia on 18th April, 2021. The two travelers were tested with Rapid Diagnostic Test (STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test) at the Airport upon arrival and both tested negative.
“As per Ministry of Health (MoH) protocol, travelers with Rapid Diagnostic Test negative results at Airport are allowed to self-isolate at home. Home isolation is a 14-day self-monitored quarantine with a condition to report for testing if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Recently the two travelers arriving from India fell ill after two weeks and reported to a health facility for testing and were found to be positive. Their samples were sequenced and the results were found to be the new variant identified in India.
“Currently seven (7) of their family members also tested positive and are in isolation receiving treatment.
“The general public is therefore notified of the updates on our testing and quarantine protocol. Henceforth, all travelers from India must arrive in The Gambia with a negative PCR test valid for 72hrs. All such travelers will be quarantined for a maximum of 72hrs at their own cost to enable sample collection and PCR testing.
“The testing regime at the Airport for travelers coming from all hotspot countries will be intensified. Those with positive Rapid Diagnostic Test will be quarantined for a maximum of 72hrs at their own cost and they will further undergo PCR testing. It is important to note that the PCR testing for arriving travelers is free of charge.”
Erstwhile UDP diaspora stalwart Aja Maimuna Ceesay Darboe has said God no longer wants UDP leader Ousainou Darboe to be president.
Mrs Ceesay Darboe was at the heart of UDP’s war against former President Jammeh’s rule. She dramatically left UDP to join President Barrow amid a fall out between UDP and President Barrow.
Mrs Ceesay Darboe who is now NPP’s diaspora secretary while speaking to the people of Kerewan on Wednesday said: “I wanted Darboe to be president more than Adama Barrow but God no longer wants Darboe to be president. I told him when he was vice president in his office that if we fall out with Adama Barrow, it could augur well for Adama Barrow than UDP.
“I told him we should be together. I told him during our meeting with Adama Barrow in New York that he (Adama) said he wanted to develop the party and we should give him a chance. It was on that day I gave Sheriff Dibba and Jawara as an example. That Gambians are good at installing leaders but not supporting them.
“I told him to be careful of those who telling him they are going to reward him for his goodwork. I told him he would be lonely if he fell out with Adama and that’s what he is dealing with now. All his good people are no longer with him. It’s small children playing with his mind nowadays. It’s not his attitude how he is behaving nowadays but it’s people making him behave that way. But he’s also a 70-year-old elder. So we should be measured in our criticism of him since you do not have many 70-year-olds who would say or act in the right way. There are issues with him. I will not insult Ousainou.”
A Senegalese daughter who embezzled millions of CFA in her dad’s money and attempted to flee to Canada has been arrested by police.
Aïda Mbaye allegedly took 41 million CFA from her father’s Légumes d´or Sarl company and plotted with her husband Papa Ababacar Cissé Thiam to flee to Canada, Senego reported on Wednesday. Seven million CFA was given to an agent to process papers for them, according to the outlet.
The woman’s father Gora Mbaye involved the police once he learnt about the events resulting in the arrest of her daughter and her husband.
Mali’s interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane resigned on Wednesday after being arrested by the military on Monday, Reuters has reported.
According to various reports, the resignation was presented to Assimi Goïta, the transitional vice president, during an emergency meeting with former Nigerian president Jonathan Goodluck and his delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Vice president Goïta is now expected to become transitional president after Bah N’Daw’s resignation.
Bah N’Daw and Ouane were forced from Bamako on Monday in what is the second coup in the Sahel nation in the past year.
ECOWAS and other international institutions called for the release of Mali’s transitional government, with the African Union and other bodies issuing a joint statement on Monday.
France, with its longstanding military commitments in the Sahel, called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council set for Wednesday. (CGTN Africa)
By Madi Jobarteh
Special commendation to Modou Njie and his December 30 Comrades for the ultimate sacrifice they took in the sacred and historic duty to salvage the nation! If anyone doubted the legitimate justification of D30 look no further than December 2016 presidential election. The fact that Jammeh refused to accept that verdict such that no amount of appeal from his own fellow heads of state could even make him withdraw such that the world had to agree to mobilize a mighty military force against The Gambia just to make him respect the will of the people of The Gambia indicates that democratic election was not enough to remove Jammeh from office!
There are people who claim that election was enough to remove Jammeh. That is a farce otherwise Jammeh would have conceded the election results abd left office quite peaceful! But he did not! Rather he was prepared to plunge the country into a civil war!
Those who claim a coup is illegal are only speaking in general terms without context! Yes, it is unjustified to remove a government that is democratically elected and abiding by democratic practices. It is not enough to overthrow a government just because there is corruption or abuse of rights! No easy or simple discontent against a government should warrant an overthrow.
But a government that refuses any form of freedom of expression and assembly so that it denies no accountability and redress whatsoever contrary to the constitution of that contrary deserves to be removed by any means necessary. A government that engages in blatant and arbitrary arrest, detention, enforced disappearances and summary executions of citizens without discrimination just on account of their opinion and political activities and for the selfish interest of that president is a government that does not deserve to live! This was why colonialism and authoritarian regimes were overthrown everywhere in the world.
Government is the opinion of citizens in a democracy. Government has a duty to protect human rights as set out in the constitution. Government has a duty to abide by the rule of law in a democracy. Therefore Democracy presupposes that the avenues for accountability, popular participation, peaceful political change, and redress remain open, effective and free without any possibility of reprisal!
Hence a government that makes accountability and popular participation a highly risky activity – a life and death issue – for citizens is a government that intends to kill the sovereignty and the voices of citizens. Such a government does not have the legitimacy and legality to survive for a second!
There is no democratic government on earth which does not have faults. Whether it’s Senegal or Sweden or US or Ghana, one will find lot of things that a citizen disagrees with a government. But so long as a government has created and protected the means for accountability and popular participation and largely respects those avenues then one will have no justification to seek the violent overthrow of that government. For example, there’s no justification whatsoever to overthrow the Government of Adama Barrow despite any disagreement one would have with it!
But Yaya Jammeh’s regime was not a government that ensured accountability and popular participation to take place without risk. Rather his regime had not only failed to abide by the rule of law but had gone further to kill the voices and lives of citizens for peacefully dissenting, with impunity!
Consequently the Jammeh regime did not deserve to exist. It was the duty of all citizens to ensure that that regime was ended by any means necessary. Therefore what our D30 Compatriots did was the highest sacrifice for Republic expected of any patriotic citizen in defense of the Sovereignty and dignity of Gambians!
Let us remember that the primary duty of any government is to protect the sovereign rights of citizens. No elected and appointed public officer or security officer has the right or power or duty to violate the right of any other Gambian. If it happens then that officer must be held accountable immediately! Failure to hold that officer accountable is to therefore compel the victim to employ any means to seek redress!
This is why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has cited that if people are not compelled to resort to violent rebellion then human rights must be protected by law and enforced by the State! The Gambia is a party to that Universal Declaration of Human Rights!
May the glorious souls of Jaja Nyass, Njagga Jagne and Lamin Sanneh continue to rest in Janatul Firdawsi. Amen.
Bring Jammeh to Justice.
For The Gambia Our Homeland
President Adama Barrow has disclosed his government rendered support to Gambians in various ways to the tune of 850 million dalasis.
The president made this revelation while opening this year’s Trade Fair at the Independence Stadium on Wednesday.
The president said: “Last year, everyone in the world was affected by the pandemic in one way or another. Apart from loss of loved ones, livelihoods were either threatened or shattered.
“In The Gambia, as in many other developing countries, the economy is driven mainly by small businesses.
“Many of the women and youths running such businesses struggled to survive when the country and markets had to observe an extraordinary lockdown.
“Medium and large businesses alike suffered immensely, because many of their customers either could not afford the goods and services offered, or could not reach them physically.
“As a responsible government, we decided to support the people in various ways to the tune of Eight Hundred and Fifty Million Dalasis (D850 Million). An additional Two Hundred and Twenty-Four Dalasis (D224 Million), together with contributions from our partners, had to be spent for similar reasons.”
A Fajara Barracks court martial handed two death sentences and one life to Modou Njie after finding him guilty on three counts over the December 30, 2014 attack on State House, the TRRC heard on Wednesday.
Modou Njie formed part of an eight-man team that attacked State House six years ago in an attempt to seize it and end then-President Jammeh’s rule. All the attackers had military background.
But the attack failed following the killing of the leader of the attackers Lamin Sanneh. And Modou Njie who was with Sanneh detailed on Wednesday how he rammed a vehicle into the gates of the compound leaving them open.
He told the TRRC: “Sanneh shouted for me to take the vehicle. I ran to get to vehicle and I rushed towards the gate with the vehicle. I rammed into the front gate. But I knew there was another machine gun and knew he too was going to shoot. I flattened the car seat and that saved me. I passed and then rammed into the second black gate. I then alighted from the vehicle and went to take cover.”
According to Njie, he watched on as Sanneh and Njaga Jagne were shot and killed as they entered the State House.
Njie was arrested and military court martial sitting at Fajara Barracks later sentenced him to death on two treason counts and life imprisonment on a charge of desertion.
Luck however smiled on him when Jammeh lost the election in 2016 as he was released after spending two years in Mile Two.
By XINHUA
The mediation team of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) led by Goodluck Ebele Jonathan left Ghana Tuesday on a mission to Mali following the detention of civilian leaders by the military.
Jonathan flew out in a Ghana Air Force flight, accompanied by Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the ECOWAS Commission Francis Behanzin, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, and other officials of the ECOWAS Commission.
The former Nigerian leader had been attending the two-day sensitization workshop of the ECOWAS Council of the Wise, a peace-building and conflict mediation advisory body of the sub-regional bloc in the Ghanaian capital when the latest development in Mali started.
“The crisis in Bamako is multi-dimensional, and the heads of state have designated Jonathan as the mediator so we are going there to know what has happened again,” Behanzin, a former army general from Benin, said.
Modou Njie told the TRRC on Wednesday he was left with a broken hand after former counter-terrorism commander Musa Savage hit him with a gun from behind.
Njie while testifying on a daring attack on State House on December 30, 2014 explained that he wanted to finish the mission after his commander Lamin Sanneh was gunned down as he entered State House. Njie had already entered the compound and had taken cover.
He explained: “I turned wanting to blow the fuel [storage] but I realized I was closed to it and I will die if I blew it. I cancelled. I could see them from where I was but they could not see me. So I pondered shooting at them. I was confused because I recognized almost everyone.
“I decided to walk towards the house of the president. I was walking comfortably, some were looking at me but I acted as if I was their commander. I walked towards the president’s residence. I was armed and everything. I saw a class of mine and called him. I asked him to try to complete the mission. One of the boys wanted to leave but I asked him to stay where he was.
“When I reached the garden of General [Badjie], I could scale the fence and leave. But I decided to speak to them since I saw some who I believe I could convince so that we could complete the mission. I approached the man, he took some steps back and I told him it was me, Njie. He continued stepping back and I took off my helmet and asked him to stop.
“I saw Savage cross, stepping away from the group. I decided to go and convince them. Savage came from behind me as I approached the group. I was talking to Abdoulie Jallow when Savage hit me with a gun and broke my hand. He wrestled me down and all of them attacked me and starting beating me. They didn’t listen to me. They were beating me and kicking me.”
One of the soldiers who survived an attack on State House on December 30, 2014, has explained how their commander Lamin Sanneh was killed.
Sanneh led a dangerous operation on the night of December 30, 2014 to seized State House but the attack failed.
Modou Njie a former State Guard soldier who was with him told the TRRC on Wednesday: “Sanneh shouted for me to take the vehicle. I ran to get to vehicle and I rushed towards the gate with the vehicle. I rammed into the front gate. But I knew there was another machine gun and knew he too was going to shoot. I flattened the car seat and that saved me. I passed and then rammed into the second black gate. I then alighted from the vehicle and went to take cover.
“I saw Lamin Sanneh entering with Njaga but as then went past HMG (Heavy Machine Gun), they could see him (Lamin) because the lights were on but he can’t see them. So the guy started to shoot around that end. Lamin Sanneh was wearing a live vest but his lower body had no bullet proof. So he shot at him and he fell down. I could see but I could not shoot towards that end. Njaga was trying to rescue him but that’s where they shot Njaga Jang too. Njaga was shot at the back of his head. I called Njaga and he picked. I asked him if he was okay and he said yes but that Sanneh was down.
“I hung up and called Bai Lowe and asked him where he was. He was up, at the tower where the gun was. I told him to leave there because the two men were down. So as Bai Lowe moved, they started shooting at him. Bai Lowe left. I then called Njaga, he picked but he could not continue talking. By then he was dead but I didn’t know. There were many shots but I guessed the one that hit him in the head killed him.
“I called Bai Lowe again to call Alagie Barrow and the crew that these people have died and we should try to escape. Our satellites phones were no longer working. Bai Lowe asked me what I was going to do and I told him I will blow up the fuel dump and go out. Bai Lowe left.”
