U.S Federal Prosecutors Explain Charges

‘In the Case of Cherno Njie and Papa Faal versus U.S federal Prosecutors. Papa Faal admits involvement in coup plot, admits shipment of weapons and being in the Gambia or surroundings. Cherno Njie did not also dispute charges as yet. How did the U.S prosecutors got access to the information leading to the charges? Was the information supplied by the Jammeh administration from the supposed laptop seized from insurgents.’

Washington — Federal prosecutors have charged two U.S. men in connection with a violent failed coup attempt against the government of Gambia last month in an alleged conspiracy that included an undisclosed number of other Americans.

Cherno Njie, 57, a U.S. citizen of Gambian descent living in Texas, and Papa Faal, 46, a citizen of both the U.S. and Gambia living in Minnesota, were named in a unusual criminal complaint made public Monday that outlined a months-long conspiracy in which firearms, including semi-automatic rifles, were allegedly shipped to the West African nation for use in the failed overthrow.

Several of the assailants died in the Dec. 30 failed assault on the residence of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. It was not immediately clear how many were killed and whether the dead included other Americans.

In a video posted on the Gambian government’s website, Jammeh said the assault was carried out by “dissidents” based in Germany, the U.S. and Great Britain.

Jammeh was photographed next to a flatbed truck that displayed an array of firearms reportedly seized in the attack.

“I live for the Gambia,” Jammeh said. “I die for the Gambia.”

Njie, an Austin businessman, is described in federal court documents as the financier and leader of the alleged conspiracy who was expected to serve as the “interim leader” of the government had the coup succeeded.

Faal, of Brooklyn Center, Minn., reportedly told federal investigators following his arrest that he had served in both the U.S. Air Force and Army, before his Army discharge in 2012. He joined the coup attempt, according to court documents, because he had become “disenchanted by the way the president was rigging elections and because of his concerns with the plight of the Gambian people.”

Both suspects are charged with conspiring to violate the Neutrality Act for their alleged actions against a friendly nation and conspiring to possess firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence. The two made brief, separate court appearances Monday. Njie did not challenge his detention in a Baltimore federal court. He will be moved to Minneapolis where the case will be prosecuted, federal officials said. A similar hearing was held for Faal in Minneapolis.

“These defendants stand accused of conspiring to carry out the violent overthrow of a foreign government, in violation of U.S. law,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “The United States strongly condemns such conspiracies. With these serious charges, the United States is committed to holding them fully responsible for their actions.”

Up to a dozen members of the conspiracy, according to court documents, entered Gambia earlier this year, expecting that others, including a battalion of sympathetic Gambian soldiers, would join their side. Before their departures, which occurred between August and October, Faal and other conspirators allegedly purchased the firearms and shipped them to Gambia. The group also acquired night-vision goggles, body armor, ammunition, black military-style uniform pants, boots and other equipment.

An estimated 30 firearms were shipped to Gambia, some of them hidden in 50-gallon barrels containing clothing, the court documents stated.

“Faal admitted he knew shipping the guns was illegal, but was more concerned with carrying out the coup,” the documents stated.

On Dec. 30, according to the complaint, Faal and other conspirators allegedly gathered in the woods near the home of the Gambian president in Banjul where they split into two teams.

At that time, prosecutors allege that Njie was waiting at a secure location until the teams took control of the home. The teams, however, were allegedly routed by heavy fire from guard towers when they approached, resulting in the deaths of several conspirators.

Faal and Njie fled, returning to the U.S., where they were arrested.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/05/coup-gambia-americans/21283229/

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Papa Faal And Cherno Njie Charged With Attempted Coup

Two men have been charged in the US with attempting to overthrow The Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh, the justice department has said.

The men, who are of Gambian origin, will appear in court on accusations of conspiring against a friendly nation and conspiring to possess firearms, it added.

Gambian authorities said they had thwarted an invasion on 30 December.

Mr Jammeh seized power in the tiny West African nation in 1994.

He is accused of not tolerating any opposition.

Mr Jammeh was abroad when heavy gunfire broke out near the presidential palace in the capital, Banjul, on 30 December.

He later returned home and accused dissidents based in the US, UK and Germany of being behind the attack.

US-Gambian dual national Papa Faal, 46, and US resident Cherno Njie, 46, were arrested in the US after they returned from The Gambia, where they had helped launch the attack against the government, the justice department said in a statement, AFP news agency reports.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30686627

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PDOIS ON ARMED THE INSURRECTION

ISSUED BY

HALIFA SALLAH

ON BEHALF OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE       

4TH January 2015

NEITHER THE BALLOT NOR THE BULLET CHANGED THE FIRST REPUBLIC FOR 30 YEARS
NEITHER THE BALLOT NOR THE BULLET HAS CHANGED THE SECOND REPUBLIC FOR 20 YEARS
HOW TO PREVENT HISTORY FROM REPEATING ITSELF?

On 30th December 2014 the people within the vicinity of Banjul woke up to the sound of firing of weapons during the early hours of the morning. The PDOIS leadership, through information passed on to Foroyaa while the firing was taking place, was alerted to the prevailing developments. It was not clear who the insurgents were.
During the early hours of the morning it became clear from the soldiers who were in control of Independence drive and who were asking the residents to stay indoors that the loyalist forces were in control of the state house and the City. This was not evident to many people in the country. Hence the rumours spread that a coup had taken place and that the state house has been taken over by the coup makers.
In the morning, Banjul was sealed by the loyalist forces. One could not get in or move out of Banjul.
We expected to hear a comment from the Vice President over the National media but none came. Since the President travels without proclaiming in the Gazette the appointment of an Acting President we monitored the international media to find out where he was and what he had to say. No direct statement came from the executive in those decisive hours.
In the same vein, no organised insurgency takes place without a spokesperson issuing a statement regarding the objective of their mission during the time of combat. We monitored the airwaves but received no information from the insurgents regarding their mission.
The public was completely kept in the dark, both by the state and the insurgents. They did not know what and what not to believe.
Banks and other businesses were closed in Banjul and KMC even though no state of emergency was declared.  All business and social activity in the city came to a halt. Rumours grew wings in the countryside and abroad.
To satisfy ourselves regarding the military and security situation we monitored all security and military activities throughout the country and came to the conclusion that there was no state of alert anywhere else other than Banjul and to a small extent, Farafenni.
News began to come out in drips on the nature of the insurgency and the profile of the Combatants .The name of Lt. Col. Lamin Sanneh, a former state guard Commander, featured prominently as the leader of the insurgents.  Four people were reported to have been killed and one injured. It was also rumoured that they were mainly ex military men who were resident in the US and the UK.
As people and transports began to move freely in places other than Banjul it was apparent that the insurgency was history and what was necessary was to know the details and the implications for the executive, in particular and the people at large.
To be continued

Parents of two soldiers from Mbankham arrested

By Mustapha Jallow
Information received from a reliable source indicated that Essa Bojang and his wife (Fatou Sonko) were both picked up at Mbankhna village on Thursday 1 January 2014, around 5am by three men in plain clothes and whisked away to an unknown destination. The couple is the parents of two soldiers, Bakary Bojang and Dawuda Bojang who left the army four months ago.
According to family sources, the three men in plain cloths came to their compound with a four wheel drive tinned glass vehicle and asked for Dawuda Bajong’s father and mother (Essa Bojang & Fatou Sonko).
Our sources reveal that the said men told Essa Bojang that he and his wife (Fatou Sonko) are under arrest, and when Mr Bojang asked them to identity themselves they told him that they are from Amdalai Police Station.  Without hesitation, Mr Essa Bojang and his wife (Fatou Sonko) joined them and they were led into a waiting four wheel drive tinned glass vehicle that then whisked them away.
However, a source added that since then they have not returned home. “On that same day, we tried calling his cell phones, both of which rang without any answer from him. We went to Amdalai Police Station to look for them as the men in plain clothes told them, but we could not find them there. We proceeded to Barra Police Station to search for them but to no avail as we were told the same thing,” our source revealed.
Family members were filled with grief and some were seen crying. They say the reason (s) for their arrest and disappearance without trace is not known to them. They are appealing to the authorities to release their loved ones or help them to trace their whereabouts.

source;www.foroyaa.gm

Collective punishment is a Stone Age notion of justice

The incident of December 30th did come to all like a thunderbolt from the blue. Those who perpetrated it did not expect to die.  At first it appeared that a coup had occurred in the Gambia. Within hours it became clear that it was an armed insurrection by former members of the Armed Forces and the conflict was contained within the environs of the state house.
One expected that there would be no arrest of civilians or purging of the security forces. It was expected that to contain the crisis the government would treat the development as a mere incident and would in fact open up for more dialogue on the way forward for the country.
Reports of arrests of the mothers and fathers of some suspects do not contribute to the defusing of the uncertainty predicating the 30th December event. Collective punishment is a Stone Age notion of justice where families settle scores when any member is a victim of abuse. No one should be subjected to arrest who is not suspected of having committed a crime. We therefore hope that all those who are arrested just because of blood ties would be immediately released.

Courtsy of www.foroyaa.gm

Soldiers Put Banjul Under Siege

Armed soldiers have locked down the capital city of Banjul, believing that the armed attackets of State House last Tuesday are still present there.

Residents told Kairo News how armed soldiers have been putting them under siege. Fully armed men have since been mounting thorough searches in homes.

A reliable source described the search as “tormenting because our privacy is not respected. They have been going into every where, including our private bedrooms and restricted our movement by blocking some major roads,” a source said.

Banjulians are so scared that they prefer to stay at home for fear of being seen as a suspect. They could not understand why President Jammeh would terrorise them. “Jammeh referred to the attackers as terrorists but he is also terrorising us,” complained a Banjulian who begs for anonymity.

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Mass Arrests Follows Foiled Gambia Coup

Several dozen military personnel and civilians were arrested, and a large cache of weapons and explosives were found following a reported coup attempt in The Gambia, an intelligence source said Thursday.

The suspects have been interrogated and were being held in “four villas” in or near the tiny west African nation’s capital Banjul, said a source close to Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

Gambia’s strongman leader Yahya Jammeh, who was visiting Dubai at the time of the attack, blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and “terrorists” for the assault Tuesday on his presidential palace, and denied it was an attempt to unseat him.

“It is an attack by dissidents based in the US, Germany and UK,” Jammeh said in a televised address Wednesday. “This was not a coup. This was an attack by a terrorist group backed by some powers that I would not name.”

Jammeh insisted that the armed forces “are very loyal” and that only former soldiers, including a senior commander, had taken part in the attack on his palace.

“No force can take this place and nobody can destabilise this country,” he said. “Anybody who plans to attack this country, be ready, because you are going to die.”

A group of heavily armed men led by an army deserter attacked the presidential palace before dawn, but were repelled by forces loyal to Jammeh, who has ruled for 20 years since he seized power in a 1994 coup that ousted Gambia’s founding leader Sir Dawda Jawara.

Investigators have allegedly seized the plan laying out the attack, in which the three suspects, including the alleged ringleader were killed, according to a military officer.

One of the alleged conspirators also led authorities to “a large quantity of very sophisticated automatic weapons and explosives,” in a shipping container disguised as second-hand clothing at Banjul’s port, the source close to the NIA said.

Four officers suspected of participating in the attempt had taken refuge in the neighbouring west African nation of Guinea-Bissau, a military source told AFP.

– ‘Failure is unforgivable’ –

Jammeh returned home to his palace overnight Wednesday from Dubai where he had been on a private visit.

He claims to have foiled a succession of coup plots and has come under fire for serious human rights abuses, including repression of the media and the disappearance of rivals.

The United States said in response to the attack on the palace: “We strongly condemn any attempt to seize power through extraconstitutional means.”

Neighbouring Senegal “strongly” condemned the apparent coup attempt, which it said was undertaken “by a group of insurgents”.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for a probe of the failed takeover and also urged the government and security forces in Banjul to “act in full respect of human rights.”

A Dakar-based researcher, Gilles Yabi, warned Wednesday of a “major risk of repression extending beyond the military figures involved in the coup attempt”.

“There are fears the regime could take advantage of the situation by blaming people who had nothing to do with it.”

Courtesy of www.dailymail.co.uk

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