Guinea Bissau Impounded A Ship Loaded With Arms Destined For Gambia

….Foreign Minister Ousman Jammeh In Bissau To Negotiate For The Ship’s Release

By Boy Badjie, Freedom Newspaper Contributor Banjul

Authorities in Guinea Bissau have impounded a ship  loaded with arms and ammunition destined for The Gambia, the Freedom Newspaper can authoritatively report.  The confiscated arms, which were addressed to The Gambian Government is a subject of investigations by Guinea’s Maritime, and intelligence community, sources said. The Gambian Government in response has dispatched its Foreign Minister Ousman Jammeh to help facilitate the release of the impounded vessel.  Jammeh left Banjul Monday for Bissau to facilitate the release of the ship containing the arms.

Last weekend, the newly hired Chief of Defense Staff Major General Massaneh Kinteh and a sizeable delegation visited Guinea Bissau with the view of lobbying for the release of the arms, but the Guinea authorities turned down their request. Guinea says it would not release the arms in the absence of proper paper work. It wants Banjul to provide compelling evidence about the actual  ownership of the impounded arms.

Gambia’s intelligence community said the state house has denied knowledge about the importation of the said arms. But at the same time they are trying to convince Guinea that the arms were ordered by the Government, although there is no evidence to that effect.

Our sources said the Government of President Jammeh believed that someone within the system might have secretly ordered the arms, with the aid of “influential business tycoons” in the country whose primary objective is to topple the 15 years Jammeh rule.

Containers addressed to the President's office are usually not searched on arrival and the importer(s) of the said  arms consignment thought that it would have been much easier for them to use the Government's  name to escape ports searches, said a top security chief.

" Once the importers have solid contact(s) at the state house or in the army, it would be easier for them to clear the container. We have seen senior army officers clearing containers from the ports in the past unchecked. Containers addressed to the President's office are never searched if the claimant(s) is on site to receive it," said a top army official.

Sources said the Guinea Bissau arms interception scandal,  has delayed the release of General Lang Tombong Tamba and others, as the state is trying investigate the former’s phone records and international connections.

The Government wants to know if the said arms were ordered during or after Tamba’s sacking, sources said. This has resulted to the mass arrest of civilians and army officers in recent days.

Meanwhile, the Guinean Government is threatening to handover the arms to the United Nations,  if Banjul fails to present credible evidence about ownership of the smuggled arms.

A top security chief who spoke to this paper said the ship contained deadly weapons, and on the manifest it was addressed to The Gambian Government. The security chief said thanks to the Guinean Marines the ship was detained in Bissau. Negotiations are underway for the release of the impounded ship.