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The Outpost Team

The newly-elected executives of the Association of Health Journalists, (AoHJ) recently, paid a courtesy call to the Officials of the National Nutrition Agency, (NaNa) headed by the executive Director, Malang N. Fofana, to formally introduce themselves and as well as to forward their activity plans for the year 2024 - 2025.

The executives were Sally Jarjue the President, Secretary General Ousman A. Marong, Assistance Secretary General Sheriff Saidykhan and Treasurer Bakary Manneh.

Addressing the executives, the Executive Director, of NaNA, Malang N. Fofana expressed gratitude for receiving the AoHJ executives. 

He assured the executives of his agency\

By Sheriff Saidykhan

The embattled former minister of Interior and Inspector General of Police, Ousman Sonko told the Court in Switzerland that the defunct Independent Newspaper was closed by a Court order and that was why the police were presence at the premises for two years.  Sonko was pushed to a corner by one of the lawyers of a private plaintiff Madi Ceesay.

In a cross examination, he (Sonko) said in defense of good human right climate during Jammeh’s regime indicated that it was in 2014 that their government established the National Human Right Commission, but due to lack of funds it was not functional. as the National Human Right Commission was as an act of parliament in 2017).

In the ongoing trial of the former Minister and IGP, Ousman Sonko, who since 2017 was in jail for crimes against humanity the allegations ranges from multiple rapes, force imprisonment and torture. 

Narrating his ordeals Madi Ceesay the tenth private plaintiff in the Sonko trial told the Court that he was arrested at his office on 28 March 2006 by the police. Then he was transported to Banjul and handed to the jungulers at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Madi told the court he was subjected to several beating between the hours of 2 to 4 am on two or more occasions. Adding that he sustains injuries all over his body and then released on bail with no charges.

When he was asked to describe the political and human climate under the regime of Sonko, he told the court it was like a hell on earth, Ceesay said there was no democracy and the country was like under a police state as there were too much harassment of the civilian by the police. 

“The arrests and tortures did not spare nobody, from the religious leaders, politicians (opponents), civil society members, activists and even school children. They kill , torture, imprison with court order, and made people disappear, that was the climate in Gambia during the time of Sonko and his master Yahya Jammeh,” he said

Asked if there was press freedom; Ceesay told the court.  

He added: “How can you have press freedom, when you arrest both President and Vice president of Gambia Press Union, how can you have press freedom when you kill Deyda Hydara, how can you have press freedom when , you forced Chief Ebrima Manneh disappear and later killed, how can you have press freedom when you burn media houses and their printing press?” he quizzed.

    |Legal Luminary Shares Views On South Africa’s Legal Case Against Israel At ICJ|

    By Almamy Fanding Taal

At the same Forum in 2019 the Gambia stood up for justice for the Rohingya People. The Republic of The Gambia on 11 November 2019  instituted proceedings against the Republic of the Union of Myanmar before the International Court of Justice-ICJ, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, alleging violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide through “acts adopted, taken and condoned by the Government of Myanmar against members of the Rohingya group”.

Africa the site of countless genocides, slavery and the most virulent forms of  imperialism have not only the moral authority but the abiding responsibility to demand justice for dispossessed people anywhere from the world court. Therefore, South African is doing the right bringing the State of Israel to the world court to answer for its crimes against the civilians in Gaza, even though South Africa is accused of being equivocal on Russia’s aggression in the Ukraine in its second year where Russia is also accused of committing war crimes. 

Whatever the outcome of the preliminary hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, South Africa’s case against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza has garnered global attention in a way that the Gambia Vs. Myanmar—the Rohingya Case did not have. As the 15-member court assembled, along with two ad hoc judges representing South Africa and Israel, quite a bit of history must have weighed on the parties. 

Of the two countries on either side of this dispute over whether the Gaza war is aimed at wiping out the Palestinian people, South Africa has left behind its apartheid past, but believes that the State of Israel is practising 75 years of ‘apartheid’ against the Palestinian people since 1948; south Africa firm in its belief that it is acting in the interest of justice and humanity, the state of Israel equally firm in its belief it can never be accused of genocide, a crime that was sought to be prevented by the Genocide Convention of 1948, a treaty to prevent the sort of Holocaust the Jewish people had suffered. 

Both South Africa and the State of Israel spent many years in the 20th century in diplomatic isolation, as countries and sporting bodies boycotted them, but both had the support of their western allies (USA UK France Germany Italy Austria Belgium Netherlands etc. ). Today, save for those few allies, the entire world supports a ceasefire in Gaza to end the epic suffering of its people. At this preliminary stage, South Africa sought to demonstrate that some of Israel’s acts were capable of falling within the terms of the Genocide Convention and that there was ‘genocidal intent’ behind its acts.

South Africa relied on data on deaths and destruction and the collapse of civilian life and health infrastructure in Gaza. It drew upon statements attributed to key Israeli government figures exemplified by the Prime Minister Netanyahu  to underscore what South Africa  called ‘genocidal intent’. The provisional measures sought include a suspension of military operations and steps by the parties to prevent the occurrence of genocide.

The State of Israel described the South African case as ‘blood libel’ before the hearing but sought to make a case that its Gaza operations were a legitimate response to the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. It played down the relevance of its leaders’ statements, calling them mere rhetoric. The State of Israel attributed the civilian casualties to Hamas using civilians as shields and hospitals as storage for explosives and launching pads for attacks. Proofs of which is yet to be independently verified by the neutral observers.

The issue before the world court is quite straightforward, but the larger concern is whether the state of Israel will abide by any provisional measure. As it has consistently  ignored countless UN Resolutions on the Palestine question since 1948. Russia ignored an ICJ order to suspend its operations in Ukraine in March 2022. However, there is little doubt that any provisional measure will cast a huge shadow on the legitimacy of Israel’s Gaza war.

About the Author

The author is a regular contributor to this medium

Publisher’s Note

Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Want to be a contributing author? Please email opmail220@gmail.com

By Sheriff Saidykhan

Musa Saidykhan, onetime journalist at the defunct Independent newspaper has yesterday told the Federal Criminal Court in Switzerland about the severe torture meted out on him at the former (NIA).

Musa informed the court that he was arrested on the 27 March 2006 by a group of army including some police officers at his home in Faji Kunda, and later transported to the PIU in Kanifing before taken to the NIA at night.

He said he was put in a small cell together with some of the abortive 2006 coup plotters.

Musa told the court that when he was taken to the NIA, said he was severely beaten several times and was forced to striped naked, and they applied electrical shocks all over his body including his private part. 

Musa said due to those severe beatens he has lost his right arm and sights. He said during the second beaten his right arm was completely broken down twice. 

He told the court that him and Madi were taken before the panel he could vividly see Ousman Sonko, Lang Tombong Tamba and some senior government security personnel. 

He said he has to flee the country after his release, and warned by Sonko that whatever that happened there must be kept “under the carpet”.

He said he has to flee because three people confided to him that he should flee the country because Thabo Mbeki, former South Africa President was the one who interfered in his arrest until he was release. 

He said he has to smuggled to Senegal with his six months old pregnant wife and later to America.

Asked to described the political and press condition of the country under Jammeh. 

He told the court that at the time there was decree 71 and this has quickly moved the collateral for a newspaper from 500 to 1,000 Dalasis. 

He said there was lack of press freedom completely. “The government killed journalists, media houses were burnt down detained of journalists without trial all these things have happened under Jammeh,” he told the court.

By Team Outpost

Fatou Camara, one of the victims of April 14th peaceful protest has told the Federal Criminal Court in Switzerland about the gruesome torture meted out on her at the NIA.

In her testimonies on Wednesday, during the eight sittings of the on going trial of Ousman Sonko, former Interior Minister for his alleged role in the human rights violations committed under the former regime of Yahya Jameh. 

In her testimony, Fatou Camara told the court that she was assaulted by some PIU with a nasty slap on her face during the protest at Westfield. 

“I was bundled into an open truck at the PIU with some other senior police officers, including Yankuba Sonko, then the Inspector General of Police and Yankuba Colley, former KMC Mayor together with the former Interior minister Ousman Sonko,” she told the court.

Under the instructions of Ousman Sonko, Fatou told the court that they were moved from the PIU  to the Mile2 Prison.

Fatou said she was picked with others from their cells one late night at Mile2 and taken to the notorious NIA torturing grounds where the whole NIA ground was full of yellings everywhere. 

“That alone was so fearing. Some people were tortured and we could hear them shouting,” she said.

She said she found Sonko, Lang Marong, Fatoumatta Jawara among others. 

She cintinue: “At the NIA my head was covered with a plastic bag and i was carried into a room where I was placed on a bed. One Harouna was called and asked to bring a pipe. I was asked to open my mouth , and I refused. I was subjected to more severe beatens until I fainted,” said Fatou Camara. 

Asked who were beaten her, Fatou said “my head was already covered by this plastic bag and could not know,” she said.

Camara continue to say that she sustain injuries and later got her treatment in Russia, after her ordeal. 

Asked about the political and human right climate of the country, Fatou replied “there was no democracy in the country under Jammeh, and human right was not in existence at all,” she described. 

Fatou was asked by the Attorney General Lawyers about the conditions of the cells, Fatou replied “The cells were very poor and no medical attention was given and having no access to relatives or lawyers”.

She went on to informed the court that at a time Lawyer Darboe and his team were also arrested, he (Darboe) realised that  most of the supporters of the United Democratic Party (UDP) that were in prison do not have any mattresses.

 She further added that Darboe threw his mattress  through the window to protest in solidarity with other  inmates. 

Fatou said she has no acces to Lawyers, and she hold the interior minister wholly and solely responsible.

Asked by the Prosecution Lawyers to describe Nogoi Njie, Fatou told the court that she was a very healthy woman at a time of her arrest.

 She said years later after her release Nogoi Njie\

By Sheriff Saidykhan

Alagie Saidy-Barrow, former TRRC Investigator  said  the character of commuters and drivers in the highways, has thus contributed to the growing nightmares in the traffic. 

“Having left Banjul I finally made it into Serrekunda, and came face to face with my biggest nightmares, traffic! 

If anyone wanted to study Gambians without the need to talk to us, they should simply observe our behaviours,” he said. 

Speaking to West Coast Radio popular Coffee Time show on Tuesday, Alagie Saidy Barrow said the way we conduct ourselves in the  traffic \"mirrows our behaviour towards one another\". 

He continued: “Let me start with the reason why I have to go deeper into Banjul. I got to McCarty square, and I was informed by a police officer that the road was closed off. 

It was the same road I took into Banjul, and I spent lest than an hour I Banjul. The time was 13 minutes after 4pm. And people were getting to go home from work

Our government officials, with no regard for citizens have no issues closing the roads off. And they do not care to inform the citizens,\" he argued. 

The dictatorship mindset of most security officials he said, is still prevalent in the country.

“In Gambia it is okay to make people suffer. So long as the President can drive through to his destination.  They will tell you is for security reason. Because their excuse arouses the security officers to do anything they wanted. 

Our people will rather employ a short cut and closed off the road completely. In their mind they have very little to worry once they banned people from driving in the road,” said Alagie Saidy Barrow.

He said such disregard of behaviour has contributed negatively to the management of the national football team.

“With zero disregard for the citizens whom they represent to find out who was selected for the national team, from the Confederation of African Football. Our people who represent us do not care about how we think,” he said.

He said most government vehicles with tinted glasses have total disregard for traffic laws.

“Once in the traffic you will notice government vehicles all over the place. Most of them have tinted windows, and you will not see the important person in the vehicle. Even though they claim to be working for us. I doubt anyone disobeys traffic rules more than Gambia government officials,” he said.

He added: “In Traffic you will also see vehicles with no license. Sometimes these are vehicles that belong to security agents. They too can disobey all traffics laws and no one will hold them to account.

In Traffic you will also see that some of us are not kind to one another. Some are rude and inconsiderate, reckless and others think the road belong to them. Some are not discipline and others don’t know how to drive.

As people who called themselves good Muslims and Christians families, you will think we will be kind to one another, you will think we will be tolerate to one another and you will think we will be considerate to one another, you think we will respect other communities and you will think we will be gratefully to one another. But join me if you will see all of these impressions in the traffic,”.

By Team Outpost

Modou Ngum, one of the victims of April 14th peaceful protest has today told the Federal Criminal Court in Switzerland about the circumstances of the protest that led to the death of Solo Sandeng. 

He said the protest was organised by the inter-party committee of political parties, but none of them participated during the protest. 

Ngum told the court that they converged at Bambo and march towards Serrekunda to Westfield demanding electoral reforms. Upon arrival at Westfield they were forcefully dispersed by the PIU.

He told the court that while at the PIU, they were asked to sit on the floor and hands tight at their back. He said Ousman Sonko, and the former NIA Director were all present there. 

He said it was himself (Modou Ngum) Solo Sandeng, Ebrima Jabang, Nogoi Njie, Kafu Bayo Fatoumatta Jawara and Fatou Camara at the NIA. 

Ngum said the Interior Minister and his team including Yankuba Sonko instructed the police to take them to the NIA office in Banjul. 

Ngum said both the Interior Minister and the former NIA Director said “they should be given a VIP treatment at the  NIA premises.

At the NIA he said a statement was given to Solo Sandeng to a sign, which he refused. His hands was then broken. He was told that, if he refused to sign the statement then he will be a “food for the vultures”. 

Ngum narrated that him and all others were forced to sign the statement. 

“I was told that I will be castigated, and later Solo was called in and then i heard Solo yelling that he should be undress. I also heard one Tamba Masireh saying give him a VIP treatment,” he told the court.

Ngum said he was called out undress and Tamba Masireh pulled his private part and later electricuted by his tortures. 

According to him, Ngum said he was knocked on his left eye and they said to him that “this is what we did Omar Jallow (OJ).

“I was reminded that Imam Baba Leigh was brought here and buried up to his chest,” Modou Ngum said. 

He said Solo Sandeng was killed in a cold blood by the Junglers early Friday morning. “He Solo Sandeng was subjected to harsh treatment that he could not survive,” he said.

Asked to described the political climate under Jammeh, Ngum said “Jammeh was one of the worst dictators ever”. 

He said Jammeh tried to silence the media by killing journalists or forcing them to flee.

Ngum mentioned Ebrima Janko Ceesay who was tortured whilst covering the protest. He said: “Ebrima was covering the peaceful demonstration from Bambo to Westfield. And when we were arrested he was arrested along and taken to the PIU. 

In 2006, he was told we arrested your father Madi Ceesay and tortured him, and you will also be subjected to the same torture. He was hit with a hammer and could not sustain the pain and he died in the process,” he concluded.

By Sheriff Saidykhan

Hon. Madi MK Ceesay, MP for Serrekunda West Constituency and former Executive Editor of the defunct Independent newspaper has recounted his ordeal of torture under the ruthless hands of the then (NIA) now State Intelligence Service (SIS).

Currently in Switzerland, to witness the on going trial of Ousman Sonko, Madi MK Ceesay explained the circumstances of his arrest that led to his torture.

“This is at the time of the foiled coup in 2006. So as the news of the day; all the papers were keep quite and did not write anything about it. We interviewed the late Samba Bah, former Interior Minister as among the coup plotters. We did our investigations and published the story.

 So when that happend he Samba Bah failed us. The next day him Samba drove to the office very angrily saying you guys published that am part of the coup plotters and arrested. Am getting calls from within and outside. 

So as Professional journalists we assigned him with a reporter for an interview. And he said all what he wanted to say to distance himself from the coup, and we published the story. 

That was not the only reason why they shutdown the paper. The position of the paper  was not at their test. The critical role of the paper did not go down  well with the former regime. So the regime came with a planned to say now we can clamp down on team Madi. 

So I recieved a call from one of our reporters saying Musa Saidykhan was arrested last night. And he said to me find your way out and run, don\

 | Former Gambian Diplomat Shares His Thoughts On The Political Trowback Of 2016 |

By Mbemba Tambadou

Before the December 2016 presidential election, many people in this country were resigned to the fact that Dictator Yaya Jammeh could not be removed from power through the ballot box. That belief was a clear reflection of how much he dominated the political scene. How much, through the various forms of manipulation of the electoral process under his watch including the use of threats intimidation and quite frankly the very successful use of the divide and rule tactics.

Despite these handicaps, political parties, especially the UDP, never gave up hope, of one day winning an election against him.  Because the political playing field was never equal under Jammeh, the United Democratic Party was the only party that was brave enough to organize peaceful protests to demand for electoral reforms in the run up to the 2016 elections. One of those protests led to the detention, and eventually the death in police custody of Solo Sandeng, a UDP youth leader.

The UDP Leader ANM Ousainou Darboe was also arrested, and imprisoned, on trumped up charges, together with most members of the UDP’s Executive Committee simply for marching to demand the release, dead or alive, of Solo Sandeng. In other similar instances, dozens of UDP female and youth militants were arrested, raped and tortured by Jammeh`s thugs for peacefully protesting to demand that justice be done.

It is interesting to note that of all the other political parties on the ground, the only one prepared to take the risk of openly defying Jammeh`s thuggery by expressing the dissatisfaction of its militants was the UDP. All the other parties preferred to comfortably crouch back in their comfort zones and watched the UDP do the hard work for them. In the process, they even joined the dictatorial regime of Jammeh to erroneously brand the UDP as the troublemaker and falsely categorized its militants as hooligans.  But when the dust settled after the illegal incarceration of the entire leadership of the UDP, they stepped forward to reap the benefits.

Parties that were guilty of this kind of dishonorable behavior, took comfort in blaming the UDP for not consulting with them or, for not inviting them to take part in the protests. But given the despicable level of atrocity and violation of every form of human rights, anyone, genuinely interested in a better Gambia, would not wait to be consulted or invited to speak out for justice and fair play? The attitude of those parties and their response to the then pathetic state of politics in the country was nothing short of hypocrisy tainted by a disdain for, the biggest opposition party, the UDP. It was under these circumstances that the country went to the polls in December 2016 for what became an historic presidential election since independence.

At the time, every single opposition party, and indeed every Gambian, knew that no one party could singlehandedly win an election against the well-established fraud machine of dictator Jammeh. They therefore had no choice but to come together in a coalition to fight and put a stop to impunity in our country. In the negotiations to set up that coalition, it was agreed by the parties that in the event of victory, an interim three-year transition government would be set up to carry out specific reforms. The broad terms and conditions of what was agreed were contained in an MOU stating the following:

1. A congress of all interested political parties with each sending 70 delegates shall select a flagbearer from among the nominated candidate of each party.

2. The candidate who is selected shall resign from his/her party to assume the new role of “Coalition Flag-bearer”.

3. If the selected Coalition Flagbearer won the election, he/she shall be President for three years at the head of a transition government which shall carry out reforms, such as electoral, constitutional and institutional reforms including the Civil Service.

4. At the end of the three years, the transition administration was to stepdown, making way for all political parties to go back to their individual programs. Elections will be organized to elect a new president for a new full five-year term.

These were the broad terms agreed and accepted by all the parties. In the ensuing Coalition congress, the relatively unknown Mr. Adama Barrow, the UDP candidate, was selected and he became the Coalition Flag-bearer.

In conformity with the agreement, he resigned from the UDP, to assume the position in preparation for the December 2016 presidential election. The drama that followed the announcement of his victory in that election could be the subject of another discussion.

For now, though, the questions Gambians are asking are, has the country really got what everyone fought so hard for in December 2016 to remove Yaya Jammeh? Has the Coalition government headed by Barrow, remained true to the terms of the MOU that the parties agreed? Is the government delivering the expected the people wanted? In short, has the New Gambia dream reality or just an illusion? And has the “Never Again” dream been realized? The simple answers to all these questions is “No”.

Cracks in the Coalition began to appear shortly after the government was formed as some of the prominent actors declined to take up any responsibility in the new government but took pleasure in criticizing the very institution they had helped to create without doing anything to make it adhere to what was agreed. This was clearly the same pathetic attitude of our politicians and of people with vested interests who refused to join in protests against injustice, preferring to sit on the fence claiming the moral high ground.

The real reason for opting to stay out of the coalition administration was the failure of their plans to hijack power to promote their political ambition. They preferred only so-called intellectuals to be appointed, wanted to be second in command and wanted to remain the dominant voice of the coalition. When all these things slipped through their fingers, they decided to turn their backs to the Coalition and Gambian people.

The implosion of the coalition was therefore only a matter of time. The divisions continued to exacerbate as the various members began pursuing their different agendas. The Flagbearer, now President Barrow, lost grip of the situation and found it difficult, because of pride and ambition for power to connect to his base to seek advice and direction. He was slowly influenced by selfish individuals and little by little he began side-lining coalition members who did not tow his line. Eventually, the MOU became meaningless to him.

He didn’t say it openly at the time, but all indications were that he would like to stay in power for five years and more. Understandably the other coalition partners began to feel betrayed. The fallout became so bad that, three of the original parties were no-longer in the Coalition government whose direction had become more and more uncertain.

For all intents and purposes, Barrow became the de-facto voice of the invisible coalition and was increasingly steering a course differently from that which was originally agreed before the December 2016 election. Given all the political machination that followed, it is fair to say that the country was slowly drifting back to the Jammeh era, of a one-man rule, who controls everything in the Gambia. It would appear that the Coalition government, and by extension President Barrow, had lost sight of the objectives that inspired the struggle against dictatorship, its massive abuse of power and the use of bigotry to self-perpetuate.

Certainly, this is not what Gambians bargained for and everything possible must be done to ensure that the real benefits of democracy, which Gambians voted for, were realized. The starting point for this process was respect for promises made, something that was completely derailed because of the sweets of office. If only the coalition agreement was respected and observed, President Barrow and his coalition partners would have gone down in history as truly honorable Gambian men and women who came, conquered and kept to their word.

But alas, the inability to choose between staying loyal to the coalition and the UDP, his parent party Barrow has exhibited the worst traits of African politicians, the syndrome of “Wach Wahet” a classic case of “You have your cake and eat all of it”. Another case of Power corrupting yet another African leader incapable of imagining life outside the pomp and glamour of the Presidency.

Without a shadow of doubt, “What we have today, is certainly not what we bargained for”.

About the Author

The author is a former Head of Chancery & Deputy High Commissioner- of the Gambia’s Diplomatic Mission to the Federal Republic of Nigeria & the ECOWAS

Publisher’s Note

Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Want to be a contributing author? Please email opmail220@gmail.com

Team Outpost

Honourable Madi MK Ceesay, the MP for Serrekunda West Constituency and a onetime victim of Jammeh era has said that he is relief in the current on going trial of Ousman Sonko in Switzerland. 

“As a victim I feel big relief, I am confident and optimistic that i will soon get justice that I waited for too long.

 There is nowhere criminals can hide. Because the long arm of justice will find them wherever they go” he said.

Ousman Sonko was arrested in 2017 in Switzerland for aiding and abetting the rights violations committed during Jammeh era. 

The trial started on Monday. The defence counsel for Ousman Sonko raised lot of objections, saying the Switzerland court is not  competent to cover the case. All his objections were rejected by the presiding judge.

Speaking to Outpost Media in a telephone interview, Madi MK Ceesay who is currently in Switzerland witnessing the trial recounted his ordeal.

“I for one, was arrested by the police in 2006, and I was taken to the police station. Later taken to the NIA, and got tortured by the NIA. 

But I am blaming the police for that, because it is the police that have arrested me and handed me to the NIA .

 So whatever i got it is the responsibility of the police. And Ousman Sonko, was the then Inspector General of Police at the time.

 So I hold him wholeheartedly responsible for the torture and other things that were meted out on me. So it was the police who were stationed at my office, that was the Independent Newspaper premises for two consecutive years.

 So the police could not have station themselves at my office without the authority of the Inspector General of Police. 

Also they could not have arrested me without the Inspector General of Police, which I am holding Ousman Sonko responsible, for violating my rights. I am hopeful to see justice sooner or later.

 I am so pleased that Ousman Sonko is tried thousands of miles away from where he committed the crime. 

So it is a clear signal that you cannot trample over people\