Gainako Newspaper

The protracted criminal trial of ten officers of The Gambia Armed Forces, who are standing at the
Court Martial at the Yundum Barracks for allegedly trying to overthrow the Government of The
Gambia on 21st March 2006 has come to an end. On Thursday the 19 April 2007 they were all
convicted on different charges and sentenced to different jail terms to run concurrently.

Captain Bunja Darboe, Captain Yaya Darboe, Captain Wassa Camara and Second Lieutenant
Pharing Sanyang were all convicted on five counts; namely counseling or procuring persons to commit
mutiny; causing or conspiring with others to cause mutiny; mutiny, treason and; conspiracy to commit
treason. They were all found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, Captain Yaya Darboe was acquitted on count two, that is causing or conspiring with others
to cause mutiny contrary to section 47 (b), of The Gambia Armed Forces Act..

Captain Pierre J. Mendy, Captain Adboukarim Jah, Lieutenant Momodou Alieu Bah, Corporal
Samba Bah, Lance Corporal Babou Janha and Private Alagie Nying were each convicted on three
counts: failure to report mutiny, of treason and concealment of treason.

Captain Abdoukarim Jah was sentenced to 25 years in jail in respect of each of the three charges to
run concurrently. Captain Pierre Mendy, Lieutenant Momodou Alieu Bah, Corporal Samba Bah,
Lance Corporal Babou Janha and Private Alagie Nying were given ten (10) years in respect of each
of the three charges to run concurrently.

As the president of the court was reading the verdict, by the relatives and loved ones of the convicts
became emotional and wailed. Some even fainted and had to be rushed to the military clinic at the
Yundum Barracks. An old woman, who is said to be the mother of Corporal Samba Bah, was
shouting at the top of her voice, saying “I have no other son, all are dead. Please God help me!” The
court room was filled to capacity with heavy security presence.

Before the court commenced sitting, all the family members were told that they would not be allowed
to enter. The security at the gate could not advance any reason for the decision. But with the
intervention of the defence counsels the press and family members were allowed in. The trial was
presided over by five military officers as panelists and a judge advocate. The panelists were Captain
Lamin Famara Jammeh, Captain Bubacarr Sanyang, Captain Sillah Kujabi, Captain Gibril Bojang and
Commander Sarjo Fofana (as the President of the Court). Justice Akimoyae Agim was the Judge
Advocate

Read the next issue of Foroyaa if you want to know how the court martial came to its decision.

“ FATOU JAW MANNEH, DAME OF
.........THE FLAMING PEN ”
....................................-Says Witness
.....................................By Fabakary B. Ceesay Courtesy of Foroyaa.........April 20th, 2007

The NIA officer, (name withheld) testifying in the much publicized sedition trial of Fatou Jaw Manneh,
has told the court that the article extracted from the internet, bearing Fatou Jaw Manneh’s names
states, “Fatou Jaw Manneh, dame of the flaming pen.”

The NIA told the court that on the 29th of March 2006, the accused herself printed the article from
her postings at the (google) internet. He said that the article contained her own name as the author. He
said that the accused has also visited her email address to check for some of her articles but that there
was no article there. He said that the same article was given to him as part of the case file. He noted
that he downloaded the same laptop and compared the hard copy with the others and later certified it
by himself.

He recognised the said article in court. The prosecution wanted to tender the article but defence
objected.

Counsel Lamin Jobarteh, said that his objection was based on a view of non compliance. He quoted
section 22 of the Evidence Act concerning statements printed from computers. He argued that a
proper foundation has not been laid before the court with regards to the said articles. He cited sections
22 (1) and 22(2) of the Evidence Act. He said that a foundation shall be laid to certify the documents
from a computer or any other devices. He argued that there was no proper foundation and the
conditions about the articles has not been fulfilled. He therefore urged the court to reject it outright.

The State Counsel Emmanuel Fagbenle reminded the court that the witness testified that the accused
person herself downloaded the document from the computer of an investigating officer. He said that
the document was certified by the witness and recognised it in court. He explained that an item
recovered during the course of an investigation is admissible. He added that the document was
acknowledged by the accused person that it was downloaded from a functional computer. “The
objection lacks strength,” he challenged. E.O. Fagbenle lamented that the testimony from the witness
has complied regularly to section 22 of Evidence Act. He said that there are manners of information
that comes from a computer, either they are letters or emails and that all those manners are of
professionals. He added that it does not apply to make sure that all documents from the computers are
to be certified. He emphasised that yahoo and google were functioning and that was why the
information was loaded from there. He asserted that the manner of the document sought to be
tendered confirms the original course of transactions, that computers are the means to access internet,
either by yahoo or google. “The document sought to be tendered was certified and stamped and it has
complied with the law and it is relevant. The witness is a competent person. I urge this court to accept
the document as an exhibit” he lamented.

Defence Counsel Jobarteh also cited the Law of Evidence Justice H. Jallow. He said that the witness
cannot certify the document apart from either a notary public or Commissioner for Oath. Jobarteh said
that under the exclusive rule of interpretation, where a rule under a certain issue intended to form part,
a law needs to certify a document. He said that if certain issues are exception, then law makers must
have said so.

“There is no where in the law, especially under the jurisdiction, even from the commonwealth, that
overrides a statute. The only known law that can override the statute is the supreme law. The
document sought to be tendered needs to be rejected,” he urged.

Magistrate Jawo ruled that under section 3 of Evidence Act 1994, documents concerning computers
need to be certified. He said that there were no doubts that the document sought to be tendered is
relevant to the procedure of the trial. He therefore admitted the document and marked it as exhibit B.

Continuing his testimony, the witness told the court that, he at one point struck out the words, “I
reserve my opinion till I consult a lawyer, on one of the exhibits. He said that he was asked by the
accused to do so because, according to him, the accused told him that she did not know whether to
consult a lawyer or defend herself. When asked about his knowledge of the Deyda Hydara incident,
the NIA officer said that their office received information that Deyda Hydara was gunned down by
unknown gunmen. He said that an investigating panel was setup regarding the incident. He noted that
during the investigation somebody was suspected whose house was searched. He also said that the
April 10-11 2000 incident was also investigated. At this point hearing was adjourned till Friday 20
April, for further hearing.

......TRIBALISM
...Citizen Momodou L. Drammeh Got it all wrong
........................................................By Michael Ndure......................... April 20th, 2007

Mr. Editor,

Please allow me to weigh in on the argument put forward by citizen Momodou Lamin Drammeh on the
issue of President Yahya Jammeh's tribal practices as an instrument of government.

To fully understand tribalism as a policy in Jammeh Government one simply has to look at his crown
jewel KANILAI. This small outpost has been transformed as a major Political and military stronghold
within just over a decade. Here residents primarily his tribal kin's lived under some form state subsidy.
Prices of goods and services well below the market price. Even at the time when power outages was
being felt in the Capital, Banjul and the rest of the country, Kanilai stood as an oasis in the middle of
nowhere. While others will argue that this is some way a development for all Gambian but I asked
those who subscribe to this theory- what stops them from freely going to Kanilai to buy goods &
services when they are not a resident of the place.

If citizen Momodou Lamin Drammeh cannot see this as an act of tribalism please let him look at the
litany of practices in the government Agencies listed below. This would make even ardent supporters
of APRC nod their heads in agreement. To deny this is to be in denial of the obvious or perhaps one
simply suffers from what can only be described as "selective amnesia". To understand and see the
extent of this practice one simply has to look at the face of the Government.

[1] SECURITY:

ARMY: over the last ten years senior officers like, Major Ann, Chief of staff Demba Njie, and many
officers have steadily been replaced by a corp of jammeh tribe's men. Most of whom are career
soldiers were purged under one form of pretext or another. The arrest and detention of Sana Sabaly
and Sadibou Hydara was the biggining of this practice. The marginalization of Edward Singateh and
Yankuba Touray is all part of this tragedy. The recent event involving Ndure Cham, Tamsir Jasseh etc
etc is amongst a long list of the purges Jammeh routinely undertakes. Members of Jammeh's tribe
seems to survive in the government longer than any other tribe.A Quick comparisons of the tenure of
Lang tombong Tamba and Assan Sarr as head of the armed forces will make this point glaringly clear.

NIA: The national intelligence agency is rife with tribalism. While the current head is Fula, the real
power lies at the state house. With the likes of Buba jammeh, and ultimately Yahya jammeh weilding
the real Power. Previous directors especially the Kujabis, were appointed for no other reason than
tribal affiliations. The purge of Foday Barry, Nuru Secka, Ngorr Secka etc is further indications of
trying to monopolized the security apparatus.

POLICE: The police have been headed by Sonko (prior to his appointment as the SOS of the
interior) whose only competence has been tribal affiliation with Jammeh. Even last the interior
secretary and former Army commander baboucar jatta whose in competency is a mater of public
knowledge. Other competence officers are routinely posted to remote out post to render them
ineffective or frustrated them to quit public service.

[2] MEDIA: The radio and television services though publicly headed by Mrs Mcdoul-Gaye is
practically run by jammeh's cronies most of whom are his tribal boys. A look at the departmental
heads under the ministry will show that most of the dept heads are chosen simply because of tribal
affiliations and nothing else.

Finally citizen Momodou Lamin Drammeh, I hope that I have succeded in providing to you without
malice a different perspactive and insight into this great discourse.

Michael Ndure
Stockolm, Sweden

Editor's Note: If you have any opinion on this topic or any other issue please send your comments to
the EDITOR at editor@gainako.com

.......TRIBALISM
The diatribes of Mathew K. Jallow under scrutiny
..................................By Momodou Lamin Drammeh......................... April 19th, 2007
Mr. Editor,

Mathew K. Jallow making so much noise online using his keyboard that even residents of Pluto can
confirm this. I just can no longer ignore the noise Mr. Jallow is making and thus I have decided to
respond as a concerned Gambian. Mathew is indisputably a smart and intelligent person; however, I
found some of his views and analysis otherwise.

Last week Mathew accused President Yahya Jammeh of tribalism and trying to Jolanize our civil
service and country. He went further to mention that Jammeh had only one mandinka Secretary of
State (SOS), no Fula, or Manjago in his cabinet in the last eight years. Come on Mathew, if you are
intelligent enough to exercise your freedom of speech and civic rights by criticizing the President on
various subject matters, you should be even more intelligent enough to do your research before
publishing unrealistic stories. I don't want to follow your trend of playing the tribal card here, but If my
memories are serving me correctly, there was some one call Samba Bah (former NIA director, and
interior secretary), Fasainey Doumbuya, (former agriculture secretary), Remember Churchill Falai
Baldeh, former Majority leader of the national assembly, Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, former House
Speaker, and even the current speaker of the National assembly, Fatoumatta Jahoumpa-Ceesay,
Isatou Njie-Saidy, the longest serving Vice President, Mrs. Bellinda Bidwel, former Speaker of the
National Assembly, just to name a few. Now, tell me Mathew, which of the above mentioned people
come from the Jola tribe. These are/were Gambians who served in very high portfolios and
responsibilities in the civil services that you claimed President Jammeh of Jolanizing, and come from
various ethnicities including "Fulas" and "Mandinkas" like you love to call them, I call them
GAMBIANS. And these positions or portfolios in government serve the people directly and more
effectively than even cabinet positions.

I personally believe that you, Mathew K. Jallow, are more tribalistic than President Jammeh based on
the tones and contents of your previous writings on the web. If you or anyone disagrees, please refer
to all previous writings of Mathew K. Jallow and carefully examine the contexts. Your writings are full
of tribalistic sentiments, to prove my point; here is a quote from the most recent of your writings about
Fatou Jaw Manneh "Born to a Fula mother, and a Mandinka father" what does that imply
Mathew?

Speaking of Fatou Jaw-Manneh, she is the best example of a HERO. This lady, being a critic of
President Jammeh and his administration, was exercising her God given rights as a Gambian. She
could have just stayed here in the United States, behind a keyboard, and make so much noise on the
internet just like you Mathew K. Jallow, but she was more than brave enough to take the fight to
President Jammeh's door steps at all costs unlike you Mathew.

Mathew, please continue to feed me and the rest of the audience with genuine and honest intellectual
views and analysis and do away with hypocrisy and fiction.

Momodou Lamin Drammeh
Raleigh, North Carolina.

Editor's Note: If you have any opinion on this topic or any other issue please send your comments to
the EDITOR at editor@gainako.com

.....DAWDA JARJU DIES AT 17
..Could There Have Been More Support?
..................................PRESS RELEASED, GAMBIA TALENTS...... April 19th, 2007

In November of 2006, the story of Dawda Jarju a 17-year-old Gambian with severe
cardiac problems was brought to the attention of Amie Dibba through reading a news
article from Gambianow.com via The Observer paper of The Gambia.

After doing some research on the young boy, a team of Gambians came together to
assist the young Gambian. Amie Dibba and Lamin Mbye opened an account, emails
were sent and Yassine Jallow, Sheikh Ndong and Aji Ndong distributed letters and
Dawda was assisted in The Gambia by the likes of Abdoulie Sarr and Ousman Jarju.
There were also others such as friends and family of the above mentioned that donated
money, time and/or effort.

In time, we at Gambian Talents Promotion initiated the "Emergency Help Needed Blog" which would
feature articles of individuals who were in need of emergency assistance of various forms. Through
Amie Dibba and Ousman Jarju, we were able to gather the two stories of 17-year-old Dawda Jarju
and 32 year-old Marian Correa; both of whom had a critical heart condition untreatable in The
Gambia and were recommended by their doctors to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Mr. Maila Touray of Rhode Island and Mrs Yasin Jallow of Atlanta Georgia proceeded to contact
some universities and hospitals to seek support while
The Gambia Echo Newspaper published our Press Release in response to the news.

The Gambian Talents staff continuously sent out newsletters and press releases to various media
houses and individuals, in search of help on behalf of Dawda and Marian. Since then, there has been
little response from the public. Few acted, some promised to help and never did, and others refused to
donate with an assumption that the missions were not legit.

.

On Thursday April 5, 2007, a week before his 18th birthday, 17-year-old Dawda Jarju passed away
only days before his current medical records were to be completed by his doctor and sent to a
hospital in Atlanta for evaluation. His mother and father, and an older sister and brother survive
Dawda. This is the will of God, so we pray that his young soul Rest in Perfect Peace. In hopes of
gaining support from the Gambian community, we tried multiple avenues many of which were
unsuccessful at gaining support; financial and other wise.

We hope that this news will awaken our people of the power we have, when we come out in
numbers. The account for Dawda will remain open to help support the family that he left behind with
their financial obligations. For those that still need evidence, young Dawda's death certificate will be
furnished and available to you online soon.

As said earlier, a sister whose name is Adama Jarju survived Dawda. Adama is a student in grade 10
at Kotu Sinior Secondary school where she is the Head Girl. In her family home, she is the only one
that works. Her father is too old and only assists in a near-by garden for low wages while her mother
suffers from mental illness. At this time, Adama is working to support her family, but is also
responsible for her school fees, so when she is not in school, this young woman is at the Serrekunda
market selling food to make ends meet. So if you were not able to donate in the name of Dawda Jarju,
we ask that you think of his sister who works to pay the bills, including what she could afford of
Dawda's medical bills. This is a very strong and courageous young woman that we should all be proud
of in her efforts. All of the funds that are donated are assumed to be given in light of helping the family,
so we DO NOT tell them what to spend their money on, nor do we desire to do so.

If you are interested in helping the family of Dawda Jarju PLEASE, this time, do so. The information
below is for the account opened for Dawda. When enough funds are raised, it will be transferred to an
account in Gambia for Dawda's family. We can give anyone interested, the contact of the family if they
want to make sure that the funds actually get to them.

The Dawda Jarju Fund,
Central Bank & Trust Co.
300 West Vine St.
P.O. Box 1360,
Lexington, Ky. 40588 - 1360.
Account # 10470372

This is what is expected of us all. Let us come together and help the families of Maria Correa and
Dawda Jarju. They need us, as we also, may one day need the help of someone else.

Fortunately, Maria Correa is still with us though, her situation is worsening everyday. We ask that all
Gambians and friends of The Gambia intervene and rescue her before it is too late for her as well.

If you would like more information about Dawda Jarju and how to assist his family, please contact
Amie Dibba at dynasty33@gmail.com. For information on assisting Maria Correa please contact
Ousman Jarju at gambiantalents@yahoo.com.

For additional information please visit www.gambiantalents.com

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