General Yakuba Drammeh has returned to the country after days of going shoulder to shoulder with top Senegal general Birom Diop and other officials in a working visit, the army said in a statement Monday.

The army said: “The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) Lieutenant General Yakuba Drammeh recently returned home from Senegal where he embarked on a 4 – day working visit to his Senegalese Counterpart, Air Force General Birom Diop from 24 – 27 February 2021.

“The CDS was accompanied by the Commander of the Gambia National Army, Brigadier General Ousman Gomez, the Commander of the Gambia Navy, Commodore Madani Senghore respectively as well as somel Principal Staff Officers of GAF.

“The visit is at the invitation of the CDS of the Senegalese Armed Forces (SAF) during the meeting of the two Chiefs in June last year at Kerr Ayib border post in Farafenni.

“It is also in fulfillment of the promise made by General Drammeh to his counterpart at this historic meeting as well as in several phone conversations and engagements during the period under review.

“At this historic meeting in Farafenni, they agreed to work on strengthening and consolidating on the existing cordial relationship between the two armed forces and countries.”

PDOIS’ hugely successful congress on Sunday churned out Halifa Sallah as presidential candidate of the party – putting the party firmly on course to showing what it is made of at the December election.

Gambians will head to the polls in December to election a new president and certainly Halifa Sallah will be one of the options.

The credible politician was chosen by delegates to be PDOIS’ battle axe at a congress that began on Friday.

And addressing the delegates, Sallah said: “If I were ever to become the president of this country for months and years and discover that I cannot add value, I promise you that I will resign. And if I have to spill blood, arrest, detain just to be a president of this republic, then call me a criminal, the worst criminal who has ever lived on this earth.

“Power is not meant to oppress and coerce. It’s meant to protect. So the task you have put on my shoulders is a heavy one and I will leave this podium with a heavy heart, seeing the past and looking at the future.”

The child version of President Adama Barrow in this year’s International Children’s Day of Broadcasting celebration has warned that tribalism has no place in a decent society.

Gambian children on Sunday joined the rest of the world to mark International Children’s Day of Broadcasting, ICDB.

One event that took place was the celebration of Gambia 56th independence anniversary presided over by a child President Adama Barrow.

The child President Barrow said in an event broadcast by GRTS: “Tribalism has no place in a decent society and The Gambia is a decent society. Therefore I strongly urge all of us to say ‘no to tribalism’ and ‘yes to one Gambia, one people, one nation’.

“We should concentrate on work and minimize unnecessary talk. Let us be sincere and honest to our nation. Let us build a nation our children and grandchildren will be proud of.”

Opposition have pulled in Senegal and have announced a protest spanning three days over the detention of their compatriot Ousmane Sonko.

Sonko has been in detention since his arrest on Wednesday amid a rape allegation charge against him.

Senegalese opposition under the banner of Movement for the Defense of Democracy said they would take part in a march spanning three beginning on Monday March 8.

By Matty Senghore

A massive 131 people formed a queue on Saturday where they said they are migrating to GDC from NPP.

GDC held its national congress in Farafenni on Saturday attended by thousands of supporters. Mamma Kandeh was returned as leader of the party.

There, 109 men and 122 women announced that they are cross carpeting to GDC. They are from the Sabah ward under Sabah Sanjal constituency.

The men and women said they were previously NPP/NRP supporters.

GDC had in recent months lost many of its supporters to NPP. The party even lost its national chairman Demba Sabally to President Barrow’s NPP.

GAP leader Musa Ousainou Yali Batchilly has ripped into ‘cooperate thieves’ who got about conniving with European nations for Gambians to deported, vowing to roll back any deals signed if GAP takes power.

Gambia Action Party is holding its national congress at the Coral Beach Hotel in Brufut with Batchilly addressing delegates moments ago.

In his 7,900-word statement, Batchilly in the area of mass deportation said: “We stand against mass deportation of the Gambian brothers and sisters around the world to ensure the respect for our nationality.

“Recently, we have witnessed draconian agreements set to deport our giant Gambians back to the nation who struggled their way out for greener pasture and majority of them died along the Mediterranean Sea.

“We stand beside those single mothers who struggled in Gardens, Markets, and Weekly Lumos as well as the Cooperative Associations to ensure their children excel which in return benefit our society. We stand beside those widows that sold their jewelries and credited some cash in order to finance their journey.

“Sadly, our government connives with the European nations to repatriate our people. A GAP led government will revoke all the malicious and exploitative deals signed by some cooperate thieves for selfless service for the Gambia.

“Our government will be responsive, people centric and devoted government to the service of the people and shall ensure our bilateral and multi-lateral relationship with the nation of the world exclude this horrible action. We urge the government of the Gambia to respect the human dignity and revisit their treaties. And to the deportees and those on the pipeline, your rights will be protected by voting for GAP in December 04th, 2021.”

The National Reconciliation Party has resolved to negotiating a ‘complete’ merger with President Adama Barrow’s National People’s Party in the future – putting to bed any ambiguity around the two parties’ love affair.

NRP on Saturday held a huge congress in Ngai’n Sanjal North Bank Region where most of the party’s leaders were unanimously returned to their roles including leader Hamat Bah.

And in a resolution after a closed-door plenary, the party came out with a massive announcement: to work towards a complete merger with NPP.

Party leader Hamat Bah said: “We know that Gambians were expecting us to clear the air and come out with a very clear position about our relationship with the NPP and Adama Barrow for that matter.

“We want no ambiguity, we want clear message to be sent across the world. We are committed to negotiating with the NPP leadership for a complete merger of the two parties in the future.

“We want to strengthen democracy, the politics of Adama Barrow – politics of development in this country to make sure that Gambians are pulled out of this evil poverty.”

Brief panic gripped the people of Bajagarr on Saturday when a Senegalese soldier opened fire as the convoy he was travelling in went past the village.

Senegalese soldiers were travelling in two vehicles to Kanilai when the incident happened Saturday afternoon, according a Bajagarr native who witnessed the incident.

Four rounds were fired, he added.

The soldiers apologised and said it was an accident, the witness said.

Two sets of wives in Brikama fought leaving one dead in each occasion, sources have told The Fatu Network.

Two women sharing the same husband fought on February 26 leaving one dead after she was allegedly hit on the neck, a source said.

On Thursday March 4, two women who also shared the same husband locked horns resulting in the death of one of them, one person familiar with the separate event said. In the first incident, the victim is said to have been the first wife while the reverse is the case in the second incident.

Police are yet to respond to a request for comment.

UDP leader Ousainou Darboe said on Friday his party will go home with 54% at the December presidential election.

“For this year however small, UDP’s vote will be 54%. The reason I made that declaration, the reason I say UDP will get that is because of you, I trust you. If I did not trust in you, I would not have made that pronouncement. Let’s make sure UDP gets that target,” Mr Darboe told supporters on Friday. Should this happen, he will become the country’s next president.

Darboe had last month said no one but him will be declared president-elect in December’s presidential election.

“I want to assure you this… Wallahi this is not a [political] platform statement. In the past I only say let’s campaign and ensure we win. But what I’m telling you today is that… Anyone who believes the statement fine but also who doesn’t believe it you can leave it but you will see it. On the 5th of December this year, president-elect is going to be Alhaji Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and nobody else,” Darboe told his supporters in New Yundum.

Bubacarr Bah who was CID officer at Barra Police Station in 2005 has told the TRRC then CMC Yankuba Sonko told him they treated UN investigators to alcohol and women as they travelled to the country over the massacre of West African migrants.

West African citizens most of them Ghanaians were murdered in the 2005 on the orders of former President Yahya Jammeh as they attempted to reach Europe.

According to Bubacarr Bah, then CMC of police Yankuba Sonko asked him not to divulge anything to the investigators should the occasion arise.

Bah told the TRRC on Thursday: “He [Yankuba] said to me, ‘these UN people are coming here, make sure if you’re called, make sure you don’t say anything’. ‘They were here but then we took them to bars, gave them alcohol and women’.

“I have sworn, what I’m saying is the truth. I will not swear here and lie. He said they drank alcohol and got women and they left but ‘this is our country, in case they’re going to come back, don’t talk to them’.”

Bah also told the TRRC the murder of the migrants was ‘unbelievable’ and those responsible should pay.

“Those who are responsible for this act, they should not be forgiven. They should face the full force of the law,” he said.

Sonko is now the Minister for the Interior.

A second death has just been reported after the first reported in Bignona.

A young man named Baye Cheikh Diop was allegedly shot in the head in Yeumbeul.

The deceased was according to Senego an apprentice mechanic.

Police have released Yankuba Darbo an official of the proscribed Operation Three Years Jotna after holding him on Thursday.

Darbo said police invited him to Serious Crime Unit only for them to charge him with sedition.

He said on Thursday evening: “I have finally been released for today, after a whole day detention, but going back next week, more detentions to come, but they will never break us!

“This persecution only strengthened our spirits and determination! Aluta Continua!”

At least 20 migrants have been reported dead off the coast of Obock, Djibouti after 80 were thrown off a boat by people smugglers.

Mohammed Abdiker, Regional Director for East and Horn of Africa reported that “the boat was on its way to Yemen, adding that thousands of young African migrants try to pass through war-torn Yemen looking for jobs in Gulf countries.”

Abdiker further said that this is the third such tragedy in less than six months, with over 70 migrants now killed.

Director General of UN Migration António Vitorino also tweeted saying, “Grim news of more migrant deaths off the coast of Djibouti today. At least 20 migrants drowned and 60 others are in distress after being thrown off a boat by smugglers. Prosecuting traffickers and smugglers who prey on the vulnerabilities of migrants must be a priority.”

Anadolu Agency reports that “The boat left from Oulebi, Djibouti, with 200 migrants, including women and children. The smugglers started shouting there were too many people on board and started throwing people into the sea. The survivors are being treated at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Migrant Response Center in Djibouti.”

Five bodies are reported to have been recovered until now. (CGTN)

By Fatou Camara II

GMC leader Mai Ahmad Fatty has warned his party has never shied away from speaking its mind on national matters even if it left controversy in its wake.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Fatty stated: “We have never shied away from speaking our mind, even if it provokes controversy. And criticism is a fertilizer for us.

“So let those who criticize continue to criticize, let those who continue say ‘after all, who is he’, let those who continue say ‘well when you were in government why didn’t you speak like this, you were there you were quiet because you were eating’. Our politics is so negative and is so over-heated.

Mai Fatty spoke indistinctly as he laid out GMC’s position on the draft constitution, throughout criticizing those who aren’t willing to compromise but playing safe and steering clear of mentioning any politician’s name.

“At some point, we must be willing to sit down and talk and in any discussion, you have to give in and give out. In every discussion, everywhere where there is conflict, whether it is conflict on principle or conflict on anything, where there is a disagreement… There is a disagreement because people have different perspective. It cannot be correct to say that your position is always the right position. You must be wrong sometimes and somebody must be right sometimes. But this grandstanding, this playing to the gallery has to stop in the national interest,” Fatty said.

GMC is one of the political parties appearing to lean towards the scrapping of the retroactive clause. The only party that has shown muscle in rejecting any idea of tampering with the draft constitution is UDP. UDP’s Darboe participated in the Abuja talks where he reiterated UDP’s position. Fatty says you cannot go to a meeting with a pre-conceived mind.

“On the issue of the constitution, we have always been very clear… You cannot go to any discussion where there is a fundamental disagreement with a pre-conceived mind. When you have a pre-conceived mind, your position is already settled. You are not willing to budge,” Fatty said.

According to Mai Fatty, the issue of retroactivity is fundamental as there is a Gambian involved who also has a following, who has strong concerns about it. That Gambian can only be President Adama Barrow.

A 20-year-old man has been shot dead during clashes with police in Bignona, local media reported Thursday.

Senegal has degenerated into uncertainty following the arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. Sonko was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly disturbing public order.

According to Senego, a 20-year-old man has now died after being shot during clashes with law enforcement.

Three Years Jotna mandarin Yankuba Darbo has said he has been charged by police after he was asked to report to Serious Crime Unit.

According to Darbo, “I attended High Court on Tuesday 2 March 2021, together with my 8 colleagues from the 3 Years Jotna leadership, on the reinstituted charges of the State of the charges we were previously discharged by the High Court on 10 February 2021 and re-arrested on the same date.”

“I have been however asked by the Police to report to Serious Crime Unit today for more charges!

“They said I am charged with Insulting the Judiciary and Sedition as the new charges, which I reported for today and as usual detained since early morning and likely to be detained here for the rest of the day, whilst waiting for orders from the top!

“If you think we are not under dictatorship in The Gambia, you have not walked in my footsteps,” Darbo wrote in a Facebook post Thursday