You may have seen a minor headline last week, saying the United States denied any involvement in a failed coup attempt in The Gambia. Today, were getting a bit of insight into what actually happened there. The Justice Department said it arrested and charged two Americans who allegedly planned and then unsuccessfully tried to carry out a coup against President Yahya Jammeh. Cherno Njie, a 57-year-old Gambian-American from Texas, and Papa Faal, a 46-year-old Gambian-American from Minnesota, are charged with conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act, which makes it illegal for a U.S. citizen to take up arms against a nation friendly to the United States. According to a criminal complaint filed in a federal court in Minnesota, after the failed coup attempt Faal sought refuge at the United States Embassy in Dakar, Senegal. Later, when he arrived in the United States, he told investigators a tale worthy of a Hollywood script. It was a story of a dozen or so unprepared men fumbling through an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to depose the leader of a tiny West African country. npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/05/375141211/u-s-charges-two-americans-over-attempted-coup-in-gambia
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 07:16:32 +0000