Swiss authorities have extended the detention of Ousman Sonko amid an investigation into accusations he committed crimes against humanity while serving in former president Yahya Jammeh’s government.

The former interior minister will remain in prison after a Swiss federal judge rejected his provisional release pleads, a Senego report on Thursday says.

The judge ruled that the decision to prolong Mr Sonko’s detention was in relation to new evidence that has emerged.

Swiss investigators are seeking to interview complainants in The Gambia and Germany, as well as Mr Sonko’s wife who lives in United States.

Ousman Sonko is accused of witnessing acts of torture and sexual abuse by police officers while he was Inspector General of Police and then Minister of the Interior in 2006 and 2016.

The former minister has been under detention in Switzerland since January 2017.

A writer has compiled a list of over 600 ‘endangered’ words in a bid to save them before they become extinct from the English language.

Many of the words have their origins in the eras of Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde, while other unflattering Victorian terms would be frowned upon in today’s society.

The extensive list of dying-out words features in Edward Allhusen’s new book Betrumped, which celebrates the evolving English language.

He fears that, unless a concerted effort is made to reintroduce them into daily conversation, some of these words could perish ‘within a generation’.

Mr Allhusen reveals how a hangover was once known as a bout of ‘crapulence’ while an irresistible craving for alcohol was referred to as ‘dipsomania’.

To ‘defenestrate’ was the act of throwing someone out of the window.

A ‘caterwaul’ was a burst of inconsiderate high-pitched screaming, to ‘condiddle’ was to steal and an ‘amanuensis’ was a literary assistant who took dictation.

An awkward youth experiencing a difficult transition from childhood to adulthood was a ‘hobbledehoy’.

Other words identified by Mr Allhusen which are more common but on their way out include a ‘juggins’ to describe a gullible person.

A large nose was a ‘conk’, to depart quickly was ‘to vamoose’ and someone who attached undeserved importance to a matter was ‘pettifogging’.

A grovelling servant was a ‘lickspittle’, a bossy woman was a ‘harridan’ and one prone to flirtation was a ‘fizgig’.

Acts of stupidity saw someone labelled a ‘ignoramus’ and ‘nincompoop’, and things which didn’t make sense were ‘higgledy-piggledy’.

Indecisive people were said to ‘shilly-shally’, while a loud exclamation of surprise was termed a ‘gadzook’.

A working class woman with promiscuous habits was commonly referred to as a ‘trollop’, while causing an uproar was creating a ‘rumpus’.

As well as listing endangered words, Mr Allhusen has also highlighted how the meaning of words has evolved over the past two and a half centuries.

He studied the seminal 1755 book by Samuel Johnson, ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’ to see which words have survived to this day and how their meanings have changed.

In that edition, he was intrigued to find the term ‘betrump’, which was defined as to deceive, to cheat or to evade by guile.

The meaning of other words have changed completely – now associated with cricket, the word ‘innings’ once meant land reclaimed from the sea.

In total, Mr Allhusen has studied over 3,000 words for his book which have their origins in over 100 different languages – charting how they came to be adopted into the English lexicon.

The former publisher, 70, from Devon, said his list is a ‘personal selection’ rather than an ‘academic approach’ and it is conceivable some of these words are still being used, albeit on a limited scale.

Betrumped, The Surprising History of 3,000 Long Lost, Exotic and Endangered Words, by Edward Allhusen, is published by Amberley and costs £14.99. (By DailyMail)

By Lamin Njie

Survivors and victims of an alleged military coup 24 years ago on Wednesday called on government to ensure the perpetrators of the brutal murder of over a dozen people are brought to justice.

On November 11, 1994, 14 people mostly army officers were allegedly executed after they were accused of trying to overthrow former President Yahya Jammeh. The alleged leader of the alleged putsch was army lieutenant Basirou Barrow.

“Today marks 24 years of hardship, sorrow, lost family [members]. Today is the day when Gambians were paraded and soldiers standing behind them, counting from three and started shooting them,” Abdoulie J Darboe a former lance corporal in the army told journalists at a press conference held at Victims Centre on Wednesday.

Darboe said November 11 is “the most serious crime committed in the history of The Gambia.

“We shall never forget and we shall never forgive,” he said.

“On November 11, we were arrested, detained and tortured. Some were killed wrongfully without a proper judicial system.”

According to Darboe, those who “committed the crime are still walking with guns in the streets, in uniform.”

He said: “Those who committed the crimes are still flying over our heads. I was arrested together with the late Lt Basirou Barrow, the late Lt Dot Faal, Bah, Lt Darboe, Seye and others who were brutally killed by the military junta.

“We had a minor dispute among ourselves and they changed that to a military coup and started killing people wrongly, arresting people in their homes. The day we were arrested, we were taken to Mile Two. It was in the night. After some minutes, we were collected from Mile Two to Fajara Barracks where we were paraded and they started killing us. I was asked to dig my own grave to be buried while I’m alive. Our voice needs to be heard. We’re urging this new government to help us.”

Meanwhile ex-spouse of the late Basirou Barrow, Sunkary Yabo, speaking at the press conference said “if it was yesterday, we would not have come out to speak.”

“We couldn’t speak. We were in pain and kept mum. We were afraid. We thank God that today we are speaking up,” she said.

Yabo said she was only 25 years old while her husband was 35. They had three kids at the time.

“I was powerless. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t say anything. I have been in pain since the day he died. I have cried for 22 years the result of which is that I now have a problem with my sight,” she said.

Another survivor of the event Kairaba Camara is calling on army chief Masanneh Kinteh to do something about the matter.

“He is smart and he has a clue about this [matter]. If he says he doesn’t have a clue, I Kairaba will say ‘no’ to it,” Camara said.

By State House Media

President Adama Barrow on Wednesday received another set of new diplomatic envoys accredited to The Gambia in a busy week of diplomatic activity. The Ambassadors of the State of Israel and the Republic of South Africa met the Head of State to present their Letters of Credence at a colorful ceremony at the State House in Banjul. A red carpet was rolled out and a military Guard of Honor was mounted for inspection in honor of the dignitaries.    

Republic of South Africa

The Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Lenin Magigwane Shope was the first to call on the President. After the presentation, a closed-door discussion followed where the two leaders talked on the state of bilateral relations between their countries exploring areas of cooperation for development.

“South Africa share a similar history of difficult times that it overcame and transitioned to democracy. The Gambia can learn from South Africa’s democracy and transitional justice examples, especially in the area of truth and reconciliation,” President Barrow told Ambassador Lenin Magigwane Shope in a closed-door engagement.

He further told the envoy that South Africa needs to demonstrate more commitment to African integration for the benefit of all her peoples. He expressed the readiness of his government to work with South Africa and others to make the continent a beacon of hope.

Ambassador Magigwane Shope on his part expressed the commitment of his government to work with The Gambia, especially in the areas of investment and agricultural modernization, agro-processing and exports.

The State of Israel

The President of the Republic, His Excellency Adama Barrow also received the Letter of Credence of the Israel Ambassador to The Gambia, His Excellency Roi Rosenbelt. During the indoor discussions, the Head of State told the Israeli envoy that The Gambia would continue to advocate for peace in the Middle East, using the opportunity to call on Israel and Palestine to come to the negotiation table and dialogue a way out of the long-standing conflict.

“It is only through dialogue that you can bring an end to conflicts of any given situation,” President Barrow said.

He recalled his meeting with President Netanyahu on the sidelines of the ECOWAS summit held in Liberia a few months ago. The two leaders discussed economic progress and agricultural value addition in support of his government’s national development plan.

Ambassador Roi Rosenblit on his part expressed the goodwill of his government in supporting The Gambia in attaining the goals outlined in the national development plan 2018-2021.

This week, several new ambassadors took turns to present their Letters of Credence to the Head of State marking the beginning of the diplomatic duties in The Gambia. These diplomatic activities by President Barrow are central to the foreign policy goal of re-opening The Gambia to the world.

Forty-two inmates of Mile Two prison on Wednesday bagged certificates after undergoing vocational training for six months.

The inmates acquired skills in electrical installation, plumbing, tailoring and information technology. The entrepreneurial training was provided by Insight Training Institute.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony held at the premises of Mile Two prison, the director general of the Gambia Prison Service disclosed that the vocational training was part of efforts aimed at reforming the prisoners.

Ansumana Manneh said: “This [milestone] cannot be fulfilled without the advent of institutions and partners to help in this reformation processes in skills training as a tool to help inmates to become assets in their communities upon their release.”

According to the Prison boss, the government of President Adama Barrow was committed to the respect and observance of international best practices with regard to prison.

“Correction centres are meant to be a drive to reform individuals who have committed wrongs either by purpose or circumstance,” he said.

Mr Manneh also said that respect for the rule of law, ending inhumane treatment of inmates with impunity, free, fair and speedy trial for effective justice are some of the key priorities of his institution.

The President of President Barrow Youths for National Development, Ansu Singhateh, has assured of his movement’s commitment to the development of Gambian women.

Singhateh gave the assurance at the weekend during the commissioning of the newly fenced women horticultural garden in New Yundum.

President Barrow Youths for National Development has rolled out 120 new projects to be implemented in six months.

Mr Singhateh said the fencing of the New Yundum women horticultural garden was a “project among the so many projects that we are going to give to the communities because they’ve long been yearning for it.”

“I know most of them [women] their source of income is agriculture… I can assure them that President Barrow Youth for National Development will continue to work with Gambian women,” he said.

The secretary general of President Barrow Youth for National Development, Kebba Lang Fofana, said some two months ago the developmental unit at the organisation “came to visit the beneficiary community for a need assessment so that we would know the developmental gaps that existed in this particular community.”

“So when we arrived at this village, we realised that they have a very good land for gardening purposes but the area was not protected. So we felt the need to come and support the over 500 women that are benefiting from the garden,” he said.

According to Fofana, his organisation wants to foster social cohesion, integration and national development.

Fofana called on everyone to come to the organisation’s support with regard to funding as part of its national development drive.

The alkalo of New Yundum, Ousman Bojang, hailed President Barrow Youth for National Development for supporting women of his village, saying that they have been looking for this type of support for forty years.

Zainab Shalhoub has made history by becoming the first Gambian to successfully operate Thomas Cook’s first Banjul flight of the season.

Zainab was able to operate the first flight to Banjul from Manchester as the first Gambian member of cabin crew, a Heartbeat report says.

Thomas Cook is a British airline which flies to over 60 destinations including The Gambia.

Zainab told Heartbeat that it was wonderful knowing that she got the chance to take customers to her home, The Gambia.

She said: “I had the biggest smile on my face the whole time and immensely emotional knowing I was operating the first Banjul of the season.”

According to the Heartbeat report, one of the key moments for Zainab was being able to deliver the PA in wollof.

“It has been a ball. The amazing destinations, crew and customers I’ve come across has made my year. I’m forever grateful, thank you,” she added.