By Momodou Justice Darboe

The Commander of the Anti-crime Unit of the Gambia Police Force, Commissioner Gorgui Mboob, has given assurances that The Gambia will be crime-free by 2020.

He, however, called on the general public to work with the police in a mutually reinforcing manner for the actualisation of a crime-free Gambia.

Commissioner Mboob gave this assurance on Tuesday following recent successes made by his men and women,including the arrest of seven suspected burglars as well as a suspect with 43 fraud-related cases under his belt.

“In 2019/2020, Gambia will be a crime-free country. If you don’t have work, go find one,” he stressed.

He said his unit was created just a year ago but that the successes that it recorded in tackling crime was heart-warming.

The anti-crime boss however lamented that burglary is on the rise in the country and advised shop-keepers to be vigilant, especially in the small hours of night when many are usually at low ebb.

“We want shopkeepers to be vigilant, especially from 3am to 5am,” he added.

He also made a clarion call on the members of the larger public not to obstruct law enforcement agents in due execution of their duties as well as harbouring criminals.

“We have seen instances of obstruction to the police in the execution of their duties but I want to make it clear to everyone that obstruction is a crime punishable by law and we wouldn’t hesitate to prosecute anyone found wanting,” he underlined.

By Momodou Justice Darboe

A 45-year-old Sukuta man is currently in custody following his arrest over 40 fraud-related offences.

Karanta Darboe of Kombo Sukuta was Tuesday paraded before the media at the headquarters of the Anti-crime Unit of the Gambia Police Force in Bijilo and according to the police, 43 cases of elaborate fraud await him.

The police say he has been preying on the business community for quite a long time and his modus operandi includes selling out stories to his unsuspecting victims; most of them businesspeople.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the Gambia Police Force, Karanta had caused huge economic loss to the business community.

PRO Lamin Njie added:” He targeted bureux de change with counterfeit banknotes. He will also tell shopkeepers that he came from Europe but doesn’t have Gambian Dalasi and could obtain goods like rice, oil,onions……

“He sometimes come with his vehicle to convince you that he has construction workers and will take cooking oil, onions,rice…. and will drive away never to be seen again.He’d caused lot of economic loss to the business community.”

Karanta is, in the meantime, awaiting trial over charges of obtaining goods by false pretences as well as possession of counterfeit Euro and dollar notes.

In another development, seven young men were also on Tuesday afternoon paraded before the press following their arrests on allegations of burglary. The men have been nabbed for allegedly breaking into a shop in Bakoteh recently.

By Lamin Njie

Footage of former president Yahya Jammeh celebrating his birthday has emerged on social media. Jammeh turned 54 on May 25.

Former Banjul mayoral hopeful Ebrima Jawo uploaded the video with the caption, ‘Former President in Equatorial Guinea on his birthday’ on Monday. It has garnered hundreds of views and dozens of shares.

In the video, over a dozen people formed a circle and could seen singing in what appears to be Spanish. The Fatu Network has not been able to independently verify the one-minute video.

Watch video below:

A Baddibu man has filed a lawsuit against the chief of central Baddibu for allegedly ending his marriage to his second wife.

Omar Camara of Suwareh Kunda village in the Lower Baddibu district filed a suit at the Kanifing Cadi Court against the chief of Central Baddibu Alagie Jagne, accusing him of unlawfully dissolving his marriage to Fatou Jaiteh, The Standard newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Mr Camara had earlier told The Standard newspaper that his wife, Fatou Jaiteh, had asked him for divorce but he refused the request. In his suit, the aggrieved husband is demanding to know whether a chief in central Baddibu could end a marriage in Lower Baddibu and whether it is in fact within the remit of a district head chief to annul a marriage where cadi courts are functioning.

The case which came up in court on Monday has been adjourned to July 1, 2019 for continuation of hearing.

Humans have ushered in a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene, according to a panel of scientists.

Experts have voted to recognise the term and the dawn of the epoch, a vast period of geological time spanning millennia, but it will be several years before the term is fully accepted.

The term means ‘Age of man’ and its origin will be back-dated to the middle of the 20th-century to mark when humans started irrevocably damaging the planet.

Scientists are now working on defining when it started and what geological feature best describes its initiation.

This quest for a so-called ‘golden spike’ may include the Hydrogen bomb tests of the 50s which produced vast amounts of radioactive matter immortalised in the world’s geological records.

The explosion of chicken farming and increased fossil fuel incineration are also potential signs of the Anthropocene, leaving an indelible mark on the world.

Professor Jan Zalasiewicz, from the University of Leicester, chaired the panel of experts on the issue who took their first formal vote this week.

The result and start of the term’s acceptance is unsurprising as it passed an informal vote in 2016 at the International Geological Congress in Cape Town.

‘The Anthropocene works as a geological unit of time, process and strata,’ said Professor Zalasiewicz.

‘It is distinguishable. It is distinctive.’

Today will see them discuss what further action is required in order to find a ‘golden spike’ – a clear indicator of the Anthropocene in the geological record.

This clear marker the researchers are searching for is technically called a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) and the future of the Anthropocene hinges on its discovery.

The spike nails down a date, but also pinpoints a primary ‘signal’ at a specific location.

The 34-member Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) will now build a proposal to put forward to the International Commission on Stratigraphy in 2021, which oversees the official geologic time chart.

Another vote will then be needed to re-write the history books and formally recognise the epoch.

Scientists refer to the period starting from 1950 as the ‘Great Acceleration’ due to the explosion in various factors associated with humans.

Concentrations in the air of carbon dioxide, methane and stratospheric ozone; surface temperatures, ocean acidification, marine fish harvesting, and tropical forest loss; population growth, construction of large dams and international tourism all increase exponentially from about midway though the 20th century.

Many experts agree the Anthropocene has begun, but how to classify the origin of this geological epoch is hotly debated.

A leading explanation focuses on the hydrogen bomb tests off the 1950s and claims this will provide the best marker for the Anthropocene’s birth.

Others suggest the best sign of human-activity shaping the world will be fossil fuel remnants, plastics or fertiliser.

One of the main culprits is global warming driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

A telltale surge in the spread of invasive plant and animal species is also a legacy of our species.

But the working group is not allowed to take any of these measures into consideration unless they show up in the geological record.

It has to be able to measured in rocks, lake sediments, ice cores, or other such formations to meet the criteria used to determine eons, era, periods and ages.

This, however, is not a problem when it comes to the Anthropocene, Professor Zalasiewicz previously revealed.

‘We are spoiled for choice,’ he told AFP in 2016. ‘There’s a whole array of potential signals out there.’ (DailyMail)

By Fatu Network reporter

A high ranking officer of the Gambia Armed Forces has admonished officers and soldiers of the army to uphold the laws of the land as well as show unalloyed loyalty to the country.

General Ansumana Tamba made this admonition on Monday when a general court martial exonerated him of a charge of desertion. He had been undergoing trial alongside Gen Umpa Mendy for allegedly deserting the army in 2017 by fleeing with former president Yahya Jammeh to Equatorial Guinea.

Speaking to The Fatu Network on Monday, shortly after the not-guilty-verdict, Gen. Tamba said: “My advice to officers is to be law-abiding and be patriotic citizens and then be ready to serve their nation come what may. Come what may, let them be ready to serve their nation. This nation is what we have and nowhere else. I have only Gambia and let also have Gambia at heart than anywhere.”

Asked as to his reaction to the judgment, Tamba said: “First of all I thank God, the Almighty Allah for making this day possible. It’s the will of God. Also, I believe in truth and nothing but the truth and as far as life is concerned, one does not always have to rush or hesitate. Always keep patient and be obedient.

“This country belongs to everybody; all of us. So, I believe in discipline. I believe in courtesy and being patient and at the end of the day I leave all my fate in the hands of the Almighty. Ever since, I felt very much comfortable and I felt very much at ease ever since I even step my foot from Equatorial Guinea to Gambia because I know myself and I know I am very much innocent and I’m a patriotic citizen of this country.

“I’ve served this country in the armed forces for the past 29 to 30 years or so. So, I know what it takes to serve your nation and I know what it takes to be a good citizen and I’m assuring all Gambians that I’m more ready to serve my nation than ever before. And, I’m just assuring all Gambians that today I’m ready to serve my nation and to lay my life for this nation; for the security of the nation and for the development of this nation than ever before.

On his arrest and subsequent charge, he said:  This doesn’t move me. I know this is just the will of God and it’s an obstacle that I have to pass through come what may, I was ready to accept the outcome.”

The attorney general Abubacarr Tambadou Monday asked individuals adversely mentioned by the Janneh commission in its probe to reach out to his office.

A statement by the justice minister said “following the conclusion of the work of the Commission of Inquiry into the financial activities of public bodies, enterprises and offices as regards their dealings with former President Yahya Jammeh, a number of adverse findings have been made by the Commission against certain individuals and companies who have been notified of these adverse findings.”

“While the Government continues to review the Commission’s voluminous report, the Attorney General wishes to invite all those who have received notices of adverse findings from the Commission to contact the Solicitor General or the Attorney General at the Ministry of Justice, in person or through authorized 3^rd parties, between 3^rd and 8^th June 2019,” the statement said

By Lamin Njie

Former army captain Yahya Jammeh Monday chanted ‘we are happy’ after a general court martial at Yundum Barracks slapped him with a nine-year jail term over his role in a 2017 coup plot.

A military panel last Thursday found Jammeh, a former aide to former President Yahya Jammeh and seven others guilty of plotting to overthrow President Adama Barrow’s government.

In 2017, twelves GAF soldiers were arrested and charged before a military court for being part of a WhatsApp group which they created to hatch an elaborate plot to topple President Adama Barrow’s government. Four of the men have been discharged for want of evidence.

On Monday, the president of the panel Colonel Salifu Bojang handed various jail terms to the soldiers on various charges. Seven of the soldiers however each received a nine-year sentence for committing a crime of treason including ringleader Yahya Jammeh.

By Lamin Njie

President Adama Barrow has said he capitulated after realizing PDOIS was balking at any effort to have its members serve in his government.

President Barrow speaking to Paradise TV in an exclusive interview detailed how he doled out positions to all coalition stakeholder leaders except PDOIS whose leaders declined at every turn.

Mr Barrow said: “I called Halifa and told him I will give them two ministerial posts but I told him I want him to be part of that two. I also told I want Sidia to be part it.

“He said he would have to consult his party. He returned and said the central committee told him that they should not take position.

“I invited Sidia too. I told him I want him in my cabinet. We had a long conversation. I told him I wanted him to be at higher education. He too told me he would have to consult the party. He returned and he too said the same thing: central committee.

“I later realized it’s not about an individual; it’s about the party. That the party took a position and I needed to respect it. But I was a bit disappointed.”

By Lamin Njie

President Adama Barrow has said that Ousainou Darboe elected to be foreign minister even after advice that his age would not allow him.

President Barrow told Paradise TV in an exclusive interview how he summoned the UDP leader during the early days of his administration and extended three cabinet positions to his party.

Mr Barrow said: [I] told him I would give them [UDP] three ministerial positions but out of that three positions, I will make him (Ousainou Darboe) vice president. The two other positions, I told him [for the position of] finance [minister], I don’t think there is anyone who is qualified financially than Amadou Sanneh. I told him (Darboe) I can give it to him (Sanneh). The third post, I told him to choose which post he wants and he told me Local Government. I told him I can give them that too.

“He (Darboe) left and came and told me he cannot be vice president; that the constitution doesn’t allow him because of his age. He came with Omar Sey and he said he would like to be foreign minister. Omar Sey told him he cannot run the position of foreign minister, that the job is too hard, with his age, that he should consider another position which is not foreign minister. We suspended talks but he came back and said he would be able to be foreign minister.”

President Barrow eventually appointed Darboe to the position of foreign minister. He served in the position for over a year and he was then elevated to the position of vice president but bad feeling crept in between him and the president which led to his sack in March this year.

By Lamin Njie

Sarjo Barrow said Saturday he might have erred in claiming former information minister Sheriff Bojang picked him from his house to go on television and announce that President Yahya Jammeh would not be leaving office.

Mr Barrow claimed in a Senn FM interview last week that during the 2016 political impasse, Mr Bojang came for him at his house and brought him to GRTS to read the text of Yahya Jammeh’s statement on television and on radio. Mr Bojang responded to Mr Barrow’s claims on Friday, saying Ramadan starvation might have foggied the veteran journalist’s memory.

“I had at no time ever summoned him or anyone to go on the radio or TV to announce that President Jammeh would not give up power,” Mr Bojang said.

“The last time I saw or spoke with Mr Barrow was almost 75 days before the political impasse.”

The former information minister however confirmed picking Mr Barrow from his house to perform a different task. He also confirmed giving him D1000.

Mr Bojang said: “On the night of 25 October 2016, at about 8.30pm I was summoned to the Office of the President by then secretary to the cabinet, Mrs Adama Ngum-Njie at the behest of President Jammeh to read a statement he had prepared on the television. It was about his decision to remove the country from the International Criminal Court. After I broadcast it in English, translations followed in the Gambian languages.

“On my way home, the president called to register his dissatisfaction with the translation in Mandinka. So I had to go back and together with the TV programmes director Baboucarr Senghore we decided to summon Mr Barrow to come and redo it. He came and after a couple of takes, we were satisfied. I personally drove him back to his home as it was about 11pm and gave him D1,000 for his troubles.”

Mr Barrow spoke to The Fatu Network on Saturday on Sheriff Bojang’s assertions, saying he might have confused things.

“He could be right about what he said,” he said. “But he has confirmed that he picked me up from my house and gave me D1000 and I think that is what matters. What is also not disputed is that he was the information minister at the time of the impasse.”

By DailyMail

Pope Francis has compared abortion to ‘hiring a hitman’ during a Vatican-sponsored anti-abortion conference.

He said abortion can never be condoned, even when the fetus is gravely sick or malformed.

He urged doctors and priests to support families to carry such pregnancies to term.

The Pope claimed his opposition to abortion was not for religious issues, but for human ones.

He said: ‘Is it licit to throw away a life to resolve a problem?

‘Is it licit to hire a hitman to resolve a problem?’

Francis disagreed with abortions done on grounds of prenatal testing which reveals problems with the fetus.

He said a human being is ‘never incompatible with life’.

Francis has spoken out strongly against abortion, although he has also expressed sympathy for women who have had them and made it easier for them to be forgiven.

By Lamin Njie

Former spokesperson of Gambia Democratic Congress has said that his decision to leave the party was as a result of some ‘irregularities.’

Muhamadou M5 Jallow left GDC about six months ago, saying in a resignation letter to the party that the move was based upon his plan to leave the country for further studies.

“This is to inform the executive committee, militants, and the sympathizers of GDC and the general public of the Gambia, that I, Muhamadou M5 Jallow, commonly known as honorable M5 Jallow and once the public relation officer of the said GDC political party has resigned from the entire party,” he said in the letter.

He added: “I am of the firm conviction that my departure from the GDC, is of some genuine reasons and the most prominent of them is centred upon the basis of my profound interest to travel abroad for furthering my educational standard, departure upon my admission.”

But speaking to The Fatu Network on the issue, Jallow said their ‘were some internal issues that made me to leave the party.

“I left the party in December [2018] shortly after the congress because of some irregularities in the party,” he added.

By Momodou Justice Darboe

Sheikh Ba-Kawsu Fofana has revealed in startling fashion how his ambition to become SIC President over a decade ago had been thwarted by a group of renowned Gambian Islamic scholars and how the custodians of the Islamic religion in the country allegedly ganged up to sow seeds of discord between him and former President Jammeh.

Responding on Thursday to questions posed to him by The Fatu Network about the reasons for his fall-out with the former Gambian dictator, Ba-Kawsu gave a riveting account of his desire to run for the President of the Gambia’s apex Islamic body and how this desire subsequently put him in the bad books of dictator Jammeh.

Below is the transcription of his interview with The Fatu Network.

“You see, the way you come here [my house] was the way many elders came here,concerning the Supreme Islamic Council after a sermon was delivered by Abdoulie Fatty on the presence of Shia’ts in the country; how hostile they were to governments and how they kill people. After the sermon, the President [Jammeh] queried if the Shiats are in the country in the magnitude described by Imam Fatty and the danger they pose to the governments and the people. He also enquired as to whether the Supreme Islamic Council was not aware of this and the response was in the affirmative. The answer was it was in fact SIC that was playing host to the Shiats and that SIC Vice President, Ousman Jah, was the one receiving them on arrivals at the airport. Banding Drammeh was at the time President of the Supreme Islamic Council. This is how they pitched Yaya’s head against the Supreme Islamic Council. It was at this juncture Jammeh pronounced that the tenure of the Supreme Islamic Council President was over and that there must be fresh elections for a new executive.

“He said the time was up for election so that people can choose a new leader to steer the affairs of the council. Following this, lots of people have been coming to my house to express their desire for me to take the mantle and this also continued in gatherings; that they felt I had all it take to be the council’s president. When this continued unabated, I said…OK…If that is the case we can explore ways and means of getting there. We then went to Ismael Sambou who was then minister of religious affairs and Lansana Jammeh was his permanent secretary. We couldn’t meet the minister because he had been delegated by the President to attend the burial of the Caliph of Touba, Serign Salieu in Senegal.

“We however met Alasana Jammeh and he organised a meeting between us and him in his office. Lot of Imams were present and we told him we were there to seek Supreme Islamic Council leadership position. Alasan told us that the President [Jammeh] had already made it clear that the Supreme Islamic Council’s executives had their time expired and that the executive had been in office for a very long time. He said Banding had been occupying the position of council’s president for 13 years but that they [government] didn’t know anything about the council’s modus operandi. He then advised us to take recourse to the council’s constitution. When we referred to the constitution, they [officials] agreed that we can seek for a leadership role in the council as dictated by the constitution. The government officials indicated to us that in order to be eligible for the council leadership position; one must be a Gambian, has a huge following, fluent in either Arabic or English and must be able to give credibility to the council in and outside the country.

“The ministry was satisfied that I possessed all the qualities to head the council. They advised us to write a letter to the council’s executive to inform them that their mandate had expired and we were interested in the positions. We wrote a letter to them to that effect and subsequently embarked on a country-wide tour to prepare hearts and minds and a huge number of people backed us.

“So when it came to the elections, Banding was the incumbent and wanted to run again even after his mandate had expired. He was there for 13 years. Supreme Islamic Council was formed by Soriba Jabbie and the mandate for President was three years. When Banding came, he argued that three years was short and pushed for a five-year mandate. He served a one three-year mandate and one five-year mandate, making it eight years. Afterwards, they argued the council was now for a term limit of ten years but Banding had already served another five years, making it 13.  They said his time was over but he insisted that the eight years will not be part of it and counting had to begin with the last five-year mandate given to him. He insisted he will run again and majority of council members were opposed to this but they cannot manifest their opposition to his bid. I insisted I wasn’t competing with him but that his time was over and that there must be elections that any qualified person can contest. However few days to the election, Banding and his entire team were removed by Jammeh and fresh election was called up.

“However, two or three days to the elections, they ganged together to choose Lamin Touray who led the prayers at State House that day. Lamin Touray had never campaigned throughout the country and people didn’t know him. It was me and Banding who toured the country and when Banding was sacked, I went unopposed.

“But they contended that Ba-Kawsu was young and they didn’t want to replace Banding with him and they then changed their positions. They also changed the President’s mind because he wanted me to lead the council since at the outset. He felt he could work with me when I win but they told the President that Ba-Kawsu is unlike other council members who would not hesitate to tell truth to the powers that be and that he wouldn’t bow down to anybody. They also told the President I could undermine his authority considering the number of people following me. The President, at this point, changed his mind in favour of Lamin Touray.

“But to make sure I lose the election, they handpicked their own supporters to preside over the process and when we raised the alarm, the entire electoral supervisory process was transferred to the IEC. So, when we met for election they connived with some Nigerians to make new ballot papers. When you are in for Ba-Kawsu, they will erase your name, put a new name there and backdate it. They also tinkered the constitution so I cannot qualify to run. So, when the country met on Saturday, 16 August and Sunday, 17 August2007, people didn’t like their conduct and they met on Sunday and elected Lamin Touray.”

By Lamin Njie

Sheriff Bojang has responded to Sarjo Barrow’s audacious claims that he ordered him to go on television and announce that President Yahya Jammeh would not be leaving office.

Sarjo Barrow last week told Senn FM in an exclusive interview that during the 2016 political impasse, the minister of information, Sheriff Bojang, came for him at his house and brought him to GRTS to read the text of Yahya Jammeh’s statement on television and on radio.

“That day I was at the television till 2am. Sheriff Bojang was sitting, I did the translation till it ended. He told me ‘If the big man hears this, he will like it’,” Mr Barrow said.

He added: “While I was reading it, between me Allah and His Messenger, I was greatly perturbed because I knew it was going to create a big problem; a problem that would transcend The Gambia’s frontiers. I knew the words I was reading had dire connotations and could inimically affect the state. But [the government] knew I would deliver and deliver I did to the extent that when Sheriff Bojang was returning me to my house, he gave me D1,000…”

Mr Bojang responded to Mr Barrow’s claims in a story published by The Standard newspaper on Friday, saying “I had at no time ever summoned him or anyone to go on the radio or TV to announce that President Jammeh would not give up power.”

Mr Bojang added: “On the night of 25 October 2016, at about 8.30pm I was summoned to the Office of the President by then secretary to the cabinet, Mrs Adama Ngum-Njie at the behest of President Jammeh to read a statement he had prepared on the television. It was about his decision to remove the country from the International Criminal Court. After I broadcast it in English, translations followed in the Gambian languages.

“On my way home, the president called to register his dissatisfaction with the translation in Mandinka. So I had to go back and together with the TV programmes director Baboucarr Senghore we decided to summon Mr Barrow to come and redo it. He came and after a couple of takes, we were satisfied. I personally drove him back to his home as it was about 11pm and gave him D1,000 for his troubles. The last time I saw or spoke with Mr Barrow was almost 75 days before the political impasse.”

Theresa May broke down in tears today as she read the last rites on her troubled premiership after bowing to a massive Tory mutiny over her Brexit plans.

Watched by husband Philip, the Prime Minister was overcome by emotion on the steps of Downing Street as she admitted her desperate struggle to get the UK out of the EU will end in failure.

‘I’ve done my best,’ she said. ‘I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal … sadly I have not been able to do so.

‘It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit.’

Mrs May was almost unable to continue as she was overtaken by tears while voicing her pride at having served the country. She declared she will resign as Conservative leader on June 7, triggering a contest that should be complete by the end of July.

Mrs May said it had been the ‘honour of my life’ to be PM, and she hoped she would not be the last woman to lead the country. In a parting shot at the bitter Brexit divisions that have blighted her time in office, she urged MPs from all parties to remember that ‘compromise is not a dirty word’.

Having delivered her painful message, she then hurried back through the famous black No10 doors and was immediately whisked away via the back exit.

The dramatic move comes after Mrs May’s last-ditch effort to get her EU deal through the Commons backfired spectacularly. Tories were up in arms and the Cabinet mounted an open revolt after she offered MPs a vote on holding a second referendum and joining a temporary customs union with the EU.

The PM humiliatingly pulled her Withdrawal Agreement Bill – known as WAB – yesterday after seemingly accepting the inevitable.

Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the powerful Tory 1922 committee, met her in No10 this morning. He had been instructed by Tory backbenchers to enforce an exit date if Mrs May refused to volunteer one, with MPs threatening to change party rules to allow a fresh no-confidence vote.

Jeremy Corbyn immediately seized on the news to demand a general election, saying the Conservatives were ‘divided and disintegrating’.

But despite the brutal assault on her position from her own side, there was an outpouring of sympathy today after she finally fell on her sword.

Boris Johnson paid tribute to Mrs May’s ‘stoical service to our country’, urging politicians to ‘follow her urgings’ by ‘coming together to deliver Brexit’.

Andrea Leadsom, whose resignation as Commons Leader put the final nail in Mrs May’s political coffin, tweeted: ‘A very dignified speech by @theresa_may. An illustration of her total commitment to country and duty. She did her utmost, and I wish her all the very best.’

Prominent Tory Brexiteer Steve Baker, who strongly opposed the PM’s Brexit deal, tweeted: ‘Very dignified statement from Theresa May, beginning to set out the many things which she has achieved in office. This is a sad but necessary day.’

Environment Secretary Michael Gove tweeted: ‘A moving speech from a Prime Minister who deserves our respect and gratitude. Thank you @theresa_may.’

David Cameron also weighed in, describing it as a ‘strong and brave speech’. (DailyMail)

By Lamin Njie

The general court martial at Yundum Barracks has set Monday May 27, 2019 for judgment in the case of two yet-to-be-discharged top generals of the Gambia Armed Forces.

Major General Umpa Mendy and Major General Ansumana Tamba have been standing trial on allegations they deserted the army. The pair got themselves into trouble after they fled the country alongside former president Yahya Jammeh in January 2017 to Equatorial Guinea, but they returned unexpectedly to The Gambia in January last year. They were arrested and charged with desertion. They face up to life in prison.

Umpa Mendy was the former president Jammeh’s principal protection officer, while Ansumana Tamba was the former head of the then State Guards Battalion.

Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says Yahya Jammeh, ousted Gambian president, ordered the execution of 50 persons, including nine Nigerians, in 2005.

In a statement on Thursday, the human rights lawyer said his law firm had been able to identify Omozemoje Paul Enagameh as one of the Nigerians killed by the Jammeh regime.

Following Jammeh’s removal, the Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International had revealed that a paramilitary unit controlled by Jammeh summarily executed Nigerians, Ghanaians and other West African migrants in July 2005.

Gambian officials had told Human Rights Watch that the migrants, who were bound for Europe were suspected of being mercenaries intent on overthrowing Jammeh.

They were murdered after being detained by the former president’s closest deputies in the army, navy, and police.

Falana said his firm found that the nine Nigerians who were involved were traveling with their passports as of the time they were killed.

“On July 21, 2005, the Gambian Navy seized a boat conveying 58 immigrants. Aboard the boat were nine Nigerians, 40 Ghanaians, 3 Senegaleze, 3 Sierra Leoneans and two Togolese sailing towards a fishing vessel anchored on the high sea to stowaway to Europe,” the statement read.

“Apart from two Ghanaian nationals who were released to a Ghanaian government delegation another Ghanaian escaped from the custody of the navy. But the remaining 55 immigrants were illegally executed on the orders of the brutal regime of Mr. Yayah Jameh, former President of Gambia.

“In the investigation conducted by our law firm into the killings it has been established that the 9 Nigerians involved were travelling with their passports. However, the Nigerian Community in Senegal confirmed the identity of one of the massacred Nigerian immigrants. The details are:-

“Name:    Omozemoje Paul Enagameh

Passport No:           A1548206

Place of Birth:         Lagos

Date of Birth:           9th December 1976.”

Thanking Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, for providing vital information in the investigation, Falana called on family members of the deceased to take opportunity to seek redress in the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission currently sitting in Banjul, the Gambia capital.

Jammeh, who lost Gambia’s presidential election in 2016, refused to step aside but he bowed to pressure after an intervention leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

He has since been on exile. (The Cable)

By State House Media

First Lady, Fatou Bah- Barrow presided over the presentation of about 8 tonnes of food items to the Fatoumatta Bah Barrow Foundation (FaBB) donated by the Turkish Cooperation Coordination Agency (TIKA), on Thursday, May 23, 2019.

The donated food items which included rice, sugar, cooking oil, dates, among others, were given to the First Lady’s foundation for onward distribution to organizations like Tanka-Tanka Psychiatric Hospital and the prisons.

Acting CEO of the FaBB Foundation, Ms. Fatou Ceesay spoke on behalf of First Lady Bah Barrow, describing TIKA as a true partner and thanked its officials for coming to complement the work of the foundation in giving support to the needy.

In his opening remarks, TIKA’s new Country Representative, Mr. Mohmet Akif Eyigum said they were happy to entrust FaBB Foundation with the donated food items for onward distribution to needy people. The main objective of TIKA, he said, is to extend helping hand to countries in need by providing technical and development assistance.

“Furthermore, I will like to thank the FaBB Foundation for such a wonderful initiative of supporting the less privilege in society in the holy month of Ramadan’’, Mr. Akif Eyigum said. ‘’This initiative is no doubt in line with TIKA’s objective of improving the welfare of vulnerable people in partner countries and strengthening bilateral relations between Turkey and The Gambia”.

Turkish Ambassador to The Gambia, Mr. Ismael Yusuf said the donation was timely, coming at a very good period in the Ramadan. He described TIKA’s humanitarian gesture as a noble cause, stating that over a thousand packages of food items will be going to the needy people in the coming days. A lot more will be distributed through other institutions.

The ambassador said Turkey is committed to the development agenda of The Gambia. As First Lady’s foundation is playing an important role in the humanitarian services to the country, Turkey will continue to support the work that FaBB does.

Turkish Cooperation Coordination Agency (TIKA) is the official international development assistance agency of the Turkish government.