JAMMEH HUMILIATES GAMBIAN SOLDIERS: ANGRY STATEGUARD OFFICERS SPEAK OUT By Kassumai Kepp in Banjul Somewhere in the Gambia today, a young man or woman will be dreaming of becoming a member of the Gambia National Army (GNA), of subscribing to a sacred covenant with the Gambian people to defend their nation state and its people at all cost. He or she would also be hoping that the representatives of the state and the people, especially the occupant of the highest office in the land, would strive to protect his or her dignity and humanity, to rightfully and honestly recognise his or her sacrifice to the nation and its people. Well there is nothing wrong with dreaming, and that is all they will be in today’s Gambia, for the occupant of the highest office in the land does not recognise or care about members of the GNA having any shred of humanity and dignity in his narcissistic obsession with clinging to power for as long as it takes and at any cost. A group of 33 Gambian soldiers, in a signed memo to this reporter, have angrily expressed their disgust and contempt for what they called ‘the routine humiliation rituals’ they are subjected to by Gambia’s deluded, murdering, plundering, and psychopathic dictator, Yahya Jammeh. Their story is a disturbing narrative of one man’s insatiable desire for power and control, and the lengths he would go, to convince his deluded mind that he has the members of the armed forces, especially those close to the Office of the President under his thumb. It was any normal evening (if there is anything ‘normal’ in today’s Gambia) in mid-December of 2012, that Lance Corporal Lamin Jatta was called by his superiors to report to the headquarters of the Republican National Guard near statehouse in Banjul. Jatta had only arrived home two hours earlier at the end of his day’s shift, and was happy to be with his young family (his wife had given birth to their third child three days earlier). Upon arrival at headquarters, Jatta found out that his colleagues in the same company had also been summoned. After waiting for about two hours for everyone to assemble, Jatta and his colleagues were ordered to inform their families that they will not be available for several hours and will not be able to respond to telephone calls. Following this distressing telephone call to their families, the soldiers were ordered to switch their phones off, and informed that they were going out on a tactical training exercise, but the location or nature of which was not disclosed. Jatta and his colleagues were then driven out of Banjul, unto the coastal road and towards Kombo South. After about an hour and half’s travel and at approximately 2300 hours, Jatta’s convoy arrived at the border village of Kartong, some 64 kilometers from the capital, Banjul. The soldiers disembarked from their vehicles, assembled and awaited further instructions. Jatta and his colleagues were in fact taken to a well-known shrine on Kartong beach where a lady “marabout” is known to practice her art. Jatta and his colleagues told me in their memo, that this was nothing unusual in itself for them, as they know the Gambian dictator frequents the area, and that there have been unconfirmed reports of armed dissidents attempting to force their way into the country through Kartong. So they thought the tactical training exercise was probably about testing their readiness and response in the event of such an event happening. They had also noticed the presence of SUV’s and heavy military armour ware similar to the ones mounted on the vehicles that escort Dictator Yahya Jammeh in his lethal high speed race against himself on Gambia’s roads. Nothing, however, prepared them for what they were ordered to do next. The soldiers informed me that their Captain, a curvy pot-bellied bully, ordered them to strip down to their underpants, whilst wielding a pistol in their faces, which order they executed to the letter. Once stripped of their dignity and humanity, they were ordered to enter a tent that was erected nearby, individually. To his utter dismay, Jatta said he found Dictator Jammeh sat next to the lady marabout in the tent. The soldiers were asked to spread their hands out in front of the lady, who examined them closely and whispered her findings to Jammeh. Jatta and his colleagues believe they were been examined about their faithfulness or otherwise to the deluded dictator. After enduring this humiliating ritual for over two hours, Jatta and his colleagues were presented with a black bull, ordered to slaughter it on the beach, and to cook and consume the meat at the same location. While this ritual sacrifice was going on, Dictator Jammeh and his henchmen coolly slipped out of sight, without any hint of remorse of the abuse they had just meted out. The soldiers received strict warning about disclosing the ‘secret and tactical exercise’ to anyone. The soldiers who have been subjected to this ritual have remained silent about it until now. Jatta and his colleagues have informed me that they enlisted into the GNA to serve and protect their nation and its people. They noted in their memo that Gambian soldiers are acutely aware of the indifference many Gambians now have and show towards soldiers. They acknowledge that the army has lost the respect and goodwill of the people, because instead of protecting the people, they have allowed themselves to be used by Dictator Jammeh as his personal instruments of repression, torture, murder, pillage and plunder. Jatta and his colleagues vowed that they will do whatever it takes to once again earn the respect and admiration of their fellow citizens. Kassumai Kepp is a freelance journalist. Contact kassumaikepp@gmail
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 21:09:38 +0000
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