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Gambian Armed Forces Betrayed Jawara! Gambian soldiers not loyal!!

Chongan, the true soldier
who defended Gambia's
constitution on July 22ND

Gallantry and brevity ceased to exist in July of 1994. Out of the numerous officers of Gambia's Armed Forces, few were brave enough to confront the coupists led by then Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh. Most of the officers have either went into hiding or had voluntarily surrendered themselves to the military mutineers. Some were used as shield or firing target if you like, as Jammeh and his men marched towards the Capital City Banjul. The likes of Pa Sallah Jagne former Inspector General of police, Lang Tombong Tamba, now Chief Staff, Lamin Kaba Bajo, former State Guard commander, Baboucarr Jatta, former army commander, Major Pa Ann, the list goes on and on betrayed the Gambian constitution by failing to defend their country from armed attack. Two former Security Chiefs defended the constitution by putting their lives on the line to confront the coupists. These men of our army had won our respect. Alpha Ebrima Ismaila Chongan and Major Amadou Suwareh refused to betray their oaths-that's defending the Gambian Constitution. These two men have not only put their lives on the line, but had ensured that the coup never materializes. Despite little support from the security top brass, Chongan and Suwareh fired couple of shots to tackle the mutineers. That's what we expect from any patriotic soldier committed to his work. Regrettably, Major Suwareh later compromised his principles by accepting to work with the junta. The army and police under Jawara were not loyal at all. This statement might sound controversial, but we challenge our former and present men in uniform to prove us wrong. They put their personal interest ahead of the national interest. If these officers were loyal as they portrayed themselves to the old man, the July 22ND coup would have been a failure.

Yahya Jammeh cannot like Chongan because the latter is not a sell out to compromise the sovereignty of his country. Chongan is one of the few officers today, who can raise his head high in the Gambia. He served his country faithfully and honestly. If Chongan was the Army Chief of Staff under Jawara's watch, these criminals calling themselves as leaders in the Gambia today, would have been history. The success of the July coup could be basically attributable to poor leadership in our armed forces then. There was no serious leadership command.

Chongan was dismissed or terminated if you like from the force after serving months at the hell fire mile two jail house. His crime was defending the Gambian constitution. Chongan has no choice but to leave the country since his military career had been shattered by his former juniors in the service.

Interestingly, most of the officers who were humiliated by the junta later accepted to serve the regime, which they today accused of genocide and all kind of atrocities. Serving Jammeh was the biggest mistake these former officials could have made. These officers cannot tell us that without Jammeh's government they cannot survived in the Gambia. After been humiliated, tortured and threatened with death, yet some answered to Jammeh's call to serve his regime. Here we need the likes of Colonel Samsudeen Sarr, Pa Sallah Jagne and others to shed light as to what compelled them to take such a move.

Admitted, Sarr's tenure in the army was useful, since he was able to document some of the atrocities perpetrated during and after the transition period. But what bothers many is his reunion with the former "kaki boys." Sarr was at some point even accused of counter coup in the early days of the junta. If our memory serves us right, Colonel Sarr was one of the first junta Ministers, who was later fired and detained. Sarr spent about a year in jail and later re-absorbed into the army. A seasoned writer and orator Sarr quickly climbed through the ladder-with Jammeh appointing him as the Deputy Army Commander.

Sarr's removal from the army was said to have been triggered by Baboucarr Jatta. The two had a beef, which was a subject of an enquiry. Some reports even suggested that Jatta and Sarr fought while heading the army. Sarr needs to shed light on this story. Gambians want to know what led to his removal and why should people believe his story on Jammeh and Sabally's atrocities. Sarr should not be sitting on such vital information which could be used for posterity sake.

Though, he agreed in principle to grant our paper interview in weeks to come, better still we thought it imperative to scrutinize his recent statement on Sabally. Mr.Sarr is free to react to the said editorial which is reported in good faith without malice.

We must admit that Colonel Sarr is doing a great service to the Gambia and her people by exposing the atrocities committed by Sana Sabally, Hydara, Jammeh and others. This is what we expect from them, nothing much, nothing less. Be it Sarr or any of these former military officials should not wait to be contacted by journalists to tell us their side of the story. His recent reaction to Sana Sabally's piece came rather too late. Sana has long been projecting his image for a while without been countered by those he allegedly wronged. As one of our former journalist mentor Ted Roborts, of the Voice of America Radio Africa Service puts it" If a lie is left unchallenged, it might turn out to be true."

For Sarr and Chongan to come and dispute Sana's rantings is very much welcomed, but what bothered many sound minds is the timing of their reactions. They don't mean to tell us that they have not been reading Sana's past writings on Freedom and other sister online papers. Where were these officials when Sana Sabally justified the action taken to cruse the November 11 coup? We challenge Colonel Sarr and others to visit our achieves and see where Sabally defended the killings in the name of "self defense." Perhaps, Sarr was waiting for the right time and right moment to tackle Bairo. In that piece Sabally accuses the mutineers of planning to take the lives of AFPRC Council Members. Whether true or false Sabally has succeeded in selling the said story to Gambian readers. We need officers like Colonel Sarr who are on top of issues to spill the beans. Gambians want to hear the true story about November 11.

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Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 (Archive on Tuesday, June 26, 2007)
Posted by PNMBAI Contributed by PNMBAI

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