By Lamin Njie
There are many ways a man could cheat death. Samsudeen Sarr certainly found one when a group of senior Gambian army officers including him came to death’s mercy way back in 1994.
Former Gambian army captain Samsudeen Sarr was in the aftermath of the July 1994 coup arrested alongside other senior officers and kept at Mile 2. He feigned madness because he thought they could get killed.
“I did it because I was afraid of the second return of the torturers,” the former army captain who later became the deputy commander of the Gambian army tells The Fatu Network.
In 1994, a group of lieutenants hooked former President Jawara from power after a bloodless coup. They were led by Yahya Jammeh. One of things that remains etched in the coup’s folklore was the rounding up of senior members of the army.
Sam Sarr was one of the senior officers at the time that got arrested – and he spent 10 months at Mile 2 where he faked mental illness.
“Because already we were informed that Edward was doing everything to have us executed. Kanteh told us that. He said it happened in his presence when Jammeh reprimanded him (Edward).
“And then this night, all of a sudden, Singhatey came, he was drunk to… I cannot imagine. I have never seen Singhatey that way. I used to like this guy. He used to speak nice. I used to like him with his brother.
“But that night, I saw a monster. And he almost killed Mamat Cham while I was looking. I was at Cell No. 1,” Sarr tells The Fatu Network.
Edward Singhatey while appearing at the TRRC has however dismissed the incident.
Sam Sarr insists the incident happened.
He says: “When they went out, I could see that the other officers were not even keen in the torturing. Sana Sabally was not keen in torturing, Sadibou was not likewise Yankuba. I didn’t see them do anything bad that night.
“Albert Gomez was part of my platoon. He came and whispered to me and say, ‘sir, this is all a joke, they’re not doing anything to anybody’. And then when they were leaving, I heard Yankuba laughing and saying, ‘hey, Sam Sarr tomorrow, Amphibious we’re coming for you’, and I knew that while some were looking at this as a joke, an accident could happen.
“I was afraid they will come back and an accident will happen, and if one was killed, there was going to be no choice. Everybody else was going to be killed.”
Sam Sarr’s so-called madness lasted six days and it came in the form of covering his head with a towel and refusing to speak to anybody. He would go the whole day without food and at night, he would quietly eat to his full.
