Kemo Cham, AfricaNewsreporter in Dakar, Senegal
The Gambian government has finally announced treason charges against a number of security officers rounded up since last October, in a wave of arrests that still appears unabated. They are accused of attempting to overthrow President Yahya Jammeh's government.
Among the accused are General Lang Tombong Tamba, former Chief of Defense Staff of the Gambian Armed Forces, who was sacked alongside a number of other high profile security personnel in the army, police and the country’s National Intelligence Agency.
Also part of those charged is renegade former army chief, Colonel Ndure Cham, mastermind of the alleged March 2006 abortive coup. While Colonel Cham remains at large since fleeing the country after his coup was aborted, it is not clear whether his charge has to do with the latest coup plot allegation or the March 2006 foiled one.
It would take the Gambian authorities five months to come up with enough evidence to slam charges on the men.
The investigations on this latest coup plot took Gambian investigators as far as neighbouring Guinea Bissau, where a ship load of weapons, destined for the country, allegedly as part of the coup operation, was reportedly intercepted late last year.
According to latest information, the accused held a meeting in the house of the former Chief of Defense Staff, General Lang Tombong Tamba, on January 1, 2009, where they allegedly agreed to acquire weapons from abroad and shipped to the Gambia.
The government’s own version of explanation of the detail of the coup came out in the form of a press release from the Gambian Attorney General’s office, aired on the Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS), Thursday. It described General Omar Bun Mbye, said to be at large, as the ‘‘ringleader’’ of the failed coup.
According to that statement, “the indicted army and intelligence officials smuggled guns and foreign mercenaries into the country last year as part of a plot to overthrow President Yahya Jammeh and the democratically elected Government of the Republic of The Gambia”.
All ten men named in the charge sheet are accused of conspiracy to commit treason, contrary to section 35, 1g of the Criminal Code procedure.
The other accused are Lamin Bo Badjie, former Acting Director General of the feared National Intelligence Agency (NIA) of the Gambia; Ngorr Secka, formerly an NIA agent and then deputy Gambian ambassador to Guinea Bissau; Colonel Kawsu Camara, aka Bombardier, former Kanilai Camp Commander and close ally of President Jammeh; Modou Gaye, former Deputy police chief; Abdoulie Secka (Lie Joof); Yousuf Ezziden aka Rambo, a Lebanese; and Omar Camara.
The last three are all civilian and businessmen.
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