I awoke on the morning of December 30, 2014 to an empty office (I'm currently working from and staying at our office in Kololi, in the suburbs of Banjul, the capital).
I checked my email and the following message from the US Embassy was in my inbox:
“The U.S. Embassy in The Gambia has received reports of a possible coup attempt in Banjul and that Denton Bridge is closed to traffic. All American citizens are strongly advised to avoid Denton Bridge and Banjul.”
I will not give my personal account at this time, but here are some excerpts from different new sources covering the incident:
This was one of the first articles published on the morning of the 30th by Jollowfnews (Senegambian news source):
"At least four people were reported to have been killed in The Gambia's capital, Banjul, as government forces foiled an alleged coup plot against President Yahya Jammeh. According to reports, some armed men led by former State House Commander, Lt Colonel Lamin Sanneh, invaded the country yesterday evening from neighbouring Senegal and attacked the presidential palace in Banjul and the military post at the Denton Bridge, which links Banjul to the southern part of the country..."
Also published on the 30th from the New York Times, U.S. Embassy Describes Coup Attempt in Gambia:
“It seems a coup attempt occurred last night,” Dan Whitman, a spokesman for the United States Embassy in Banjul, wrote in an email. “There has been no sign of transfer of political or military power"...
... Gambia’s president, Yahya Jammeh, was traveling outside the country when the attempt occurred...
...The government’s statement on Tuesday neither confirmed nor denied an attempted coup.
"Contrary to rumors being circulated, peace and calm continue to prevail in the Gambia, and the government would like to urge the general public and all businesses to carry on with their normal activities as usual,” a news release issued to the state-run broadcaster said..."
The Daily Observer (Gambia) on January 2, 2015 published The President of The Gambia's first public statement in their article, Jammeh says Tuesday episode a ‘terror attack’ not attempted coup- Vows to prosecute those involved:
"In his first public statement on the event that came more than 24 hours after the attack was quelled by loyal forces of The Gambia, His Excellency Sheikh Prof. Alh. Dr. Yahya Jammeh, said the attackers were backed by some un-named countries, and used the opportunity to stress that “he will live and die defending the truth” and “protecting the resources of The Gambia” against international forces’ of exploitation.
“I want to thank The Gambian people for their support always. I live for The Gambia and I die for The Gambia; I live for Africa and die for Africa and I will die fighting for the truth. No human being can do anything to me, my government and The Gambia, because The Gambia is a blessed country and God is on our side,” Jammeh told journalists at State house late Wednesday evening.
“Well it was not a coup; it was a lie that it was a coup. It was an attack by dissidents based in the US, Germany and UK. You will realise that some of these materials are US made that they have, and of course also, we have a comprehensive understanding of what they have been planning. They had ‘literature’ and this was the final stage of their plan; they had stage one; stage two; and the final phase was the attack. What is interesting is the fact that we were able to get all that they had in their computer; we were able to download it, and the information that I will release tomorrow (Thursday) is very startling,” Jammeh asserted.
Expatiating further, the commander-in-chief of The Gambia Armed Forces, praised the loyal forces of his country, whom he said, helped in nullifying the attack.
Jammeh, who returned to the country from an overseas trip to the Middle Eastern nation of Dubai, said: “The Gambia Armed Forces are very loyal and as far as we are concerned, there wasn’t any single participation of the armed forces except in nullifying the attack. So it cannot be called a military coup because I have seen some media houses saying that there was coup. This wasn’t a coup; this was an attack by a terrorist group backed by some powers that I will not name for now.
But of course we know where these dissidents were based; these are countries, where, today if you say I’m anti-government they give you a visa, when decent Gambians won’t be given a visa. They always talk about that they are friends of The Gambian people, but what we have seen now; every Gambian will know that they are not friends. Their problem is getting the resources of this country, which they will never lay their hands on.
Yes it was an attack and they thought by attacking State House and getting it, the armed forces will join them because they said the armed forces are disgruntled (which is a big lie). They also said that The Gambian people are disgruntled and that as soon as they attack and takeover the State House, Gambians will flood in their thousands to join them. This is why they have these types of weapons.
So it cannot be called a coup because a coup has to come out from regular armed forces. Of course, these are soldiers who were dismissed because they were very close to a particular embassy here and one of them was the former State Guards commander. He (the said ex SG commander) thought that because he was here before, he knew everything about this place. Let me tell you one thing, no force can take this place; no human force except Almighty Allah”.
Jammeh was unequivocal with his strong message to the powers that be, warning that any attempt to distabilise The Gambia through agents will end in an exercise of futility. He reiterated that The Gambia “will not be colonised twice”, nor will its citizens “be ever be enslaved twice”. He said this “will never happen till “Illah yumideen” (an Arabic parlance meaning till the end of time). The head of state said the attackers’ desire to get hold of State House was an illusion, and in his own words, “it will not happen in a billion years and I challenge anyone to try”.
He continued: “Nobody can also distabilise this country. So anybody who comes to attack this country; be ready because you are going to die no matter who you are and who backed you. We have the Almighty Allah; He is the supreme power and nobody can do anything about that. But Gambians also should be aware of people who call them “we are your friends and we have good relations”; it’s all a bunch of nonsense. They smile at you and then they stab you in the back.
“So it was not a coup because the military is not involved in this. They (attackers) were banking on their plan. They said I have the most repressive regime in the world, which is a bloody lie because Gambians are not idiots. If they think that I will allow Gambians to be ripped off their resources for so-called democracy, they can go to hell. So the whole problem is about our oil and minerals and I will not give my minerals to any idiot for whatever reason. They will never exploit us twice. In fact two countries were named by the attackers as their allies, which we will not name now because those are the two that harbour these dissidents openly and make statements..."
And the latest news, the real story, as posted on NPR...
Links to other articles:
The New York Times Two in U.S. Face Charges After Coup Attempt Fails in Gambia
