For the past four hours, Fatu Radio has been inundated with calls from credible sources about the “arrest” of Ansumana Jammeh, the half-brother of the President, Yahya Jammeh. In addition, our sources have been telling us about the arrest of Mr Sanna Bah who is an open business partner of Ansumana Jammeh.
Both men were said to have been arrested in a predawn raid by a combined security forces of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and President Jammeh’s elite force attached to the Presidency.
According to our sources, the arrest of both Ansumana and Sanna came directly from the President Yahya Jammeh himself. One of our credible sources informed us that both men are being investigated in connection with some mining activities although it is still not clear which mining case the two are being investigated on.
However about two weeks ago local people in the coastal village of Kartong in the Western Region of the Gambia held a defiant protest against sand mining on the adjacent coastal beaches in their village leading to serious clashes with security forces in which scores of youths were arrested and eventually held in different security detention centres where they alleged they were brutally tortured.
Although the youths were eventually released on the orders of the President, fallout from the incident still continues. The sand mining in Kartong is controlled and coordinated by Ansumana Jammeh.
Also just last week, it has been announced that an Australian mining firm Carnegie Mineral, has won a multi-million dollar case against the Gambia government at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in the United Kingdom. The Australian company has been awarded about US$23 million for Gambia government’s abrupt decision to terminate the mining license of Carnegie Minerals. The Gambia government in addition, also impounded the mining company’s assets and arrested its Manager Charlie Northfield.
Although it is still not clear whether Ansumana and his business partner Sana Bah had any links with the case of Carnegie Minerals, our sources have confirmed to us that the President has instructed investigators to investigate all business activities of Ansumana Jammeh and Sanna Bah particularly related to mining issues.
Within the framework of the investigations, our sources have told us that investigators are interested in the companies of Ansumana particularly Maligam which many alleged has been involved in some money laundering and shady business activities.
Until recently, Ansumana Jammeh was the star spin master in Gambia who could fix face to face meetings with the President in the shortest possible time. Despite his near illiteracy, Ansumana was appointed Gambia’s ambassador to Qatar where instead of representing the country, he was busy striking business deals for his half-brother President Yahya Jammeh. Ansumana was so powerful at some point that even cabinet ministers had to go through him to be able to have audience with the President.
But now it seems Ansu, as he is fondly called, has fallen from grace. For now though it seems his fate is in the hands of Gambia’s security forces who are known for their unprofessional, compromised and bias reports against detainees who fallout with the dictator.
