By: Nyima Sillah & Sandally Sawo
Tomorrow marks 28 years since some soldiers and officers of the then-Gambia National Army (GNA) were brutally killed as they attempted to overthrow the three-month-old AFPRC regime.
On 11 November 1994, 2nd Lt. Sanna Sabally led a bloody crushing of the coup attempt and almost three decades on, Lt. Sabally and the men he led in quelling the attempted putsch have yet to face any criminal liability in court for the mass murder that took place at the Army HQ Camp in Yundum, 3 Infantry Battalion in Fajara and Lance Corporal Lamin Bojangrange in Brikama.
Lieutenants Basirou Barrow, Gibril Saye, Momodou LaminDarboe, Abdoulie Dot Faal, Bakary Manneh, Sergeant FafaTouray, Cadet Officer Kawsu Sillah and Corporal BasiruCamara were among almost two dozen officers and soldiers, who were summarily executed.
The former junta vice chairperson, accompanied by junta members lieutenants Yankuba Touray, Edward Singhateh, and Sadibou Hydara, led the massacre. He admitted responsibility for the killings in his testimony before the TRRC in 2019.
The former army chief Col. (Rtd) Babucarr Jatta and ex-National Security Adviser Col. (Rtd) Momodou Badjie were also present during some of the killings.
The TRRC in its White Paper recommended Sanna Sabally do some community service in lieu of criminal responsibility.
“Of course, the victims were quite opposed to it as they saw Sanna as one of the perpetrators who deserved to be punished for it. However, I understand that the government White Paper rejected those recommendations and as such, Sanna is now to be treated like all the other alleged perpetrators,” the Chairman of the Victims’ Centre for Human Rights Violations explained to The Voice when contacted recently.
Meanwhile, there remains a huge gap between the government’s commitment to accountability and delivery when it comes to the TRRC White Paper.