By Adama Makasuba
A United Democratic Party stalwart and a key figure, Amadou Sanneh has recounted the Denton Bridge ambush saying UDP supporters were ambushed by some personnel of Gambian soldiers while on way to a campaign in Banjul in 1996.
Mr. Sanneh, also the national treasurer of UDP was testifying before the Truth Reconciliation and Reparation Commission on Tuesday, adding that about 30 soldiers led by Yankuba Touray arrested and tortured them (UDP supporters.
He said: “our vehicles were stopped at Denton Bridge by soldiers and we were asked to sit on the ground. They undressed us and start beaten us with batons and pipes and stamping on us.”
“Some were saying put them onto the truck and let them drown in the sea while some were saying let the driver in the fire and the vehicle will explode and all of them will die,” he added.
Mr Sanneh further told the commission that the UDP supporters were transferred to Banjul, adding they (UDP supporters) sustained injuries as a result of the brutal tortures meted on them by the soldiers at the bridge.
Meanwhile, he said they were later taken to the National Intelligent Agency headquarters in Banjul where he said they strip off their clothes and belongings on them and detained them for 18 days period and released without no charges.
He described the condition at the NIA as horrible and despite some NIA officers being brutal on them during their detention; he also recalled that some were kind on them.
Throughout their 18 days detention at the NIA with injuries, Sanneh said they didn’t receive any medical treatment.
However, he said they only received medical treatment after their release at the NIA at the Kololi clinic with the help of Dr. Ceesay.
Mr Amadou Sanneh was an accountant general under the PPP regime and briefly worked under the AFPRC as both accountant general and deputy permanent secretary at the ministry of trade.
He resigned few months later from the AFPRC regime and formed his account firm in Banjul.
Sanneh was rearrested again in 2013 by Jammeh’s government and imprisonment till the post presidential election in 2016. He was later selected by Gambian president Adama Barrow as his minister of finance and later deployed to the minister of trade before his sacking in 2018.