Colonel
Babucarr Jatta, former Chief of Staff (CDS) of The Gambia Armed Forces (GAF)
has insisted that the late Almamo Manneh and former State Guard Commander, Lt.
Landing Sanneh, were indeed involved in a coup, arguing that he was the one
that in fact saved Sanneh from being killed.
It
could be recalled that Landing Sanneh during his recent interview on Coffee
Time aired on West Coast Radio, claimed that it was he (Jatta) together with
former President Yahya Jammeh, who went to his house to effect arrest on him
with Jammeh ordering for his shooting.
But
reacting to those claims, the Tujereng born, who walked into the studios of
West Coast Radio to set the record straight, debunked Sanneh’s allegation,
saying Sanneh at the time was a Second Lieutenant. “So, why should I waste my time
of arresting him when I can give orders for his arrest?”
Col.
Babucarr Jatta, was the Chief of Staff of the GAF from 1994 to 2004. During the
said radio interview, he explained that late Almamo and Sanneh were indeed
involved in the coup, claiming that they initial had the tape.
He
recalls: “Jammeh was going to Gabon and he was later alerted about the coup and
he postponed his trip to Gabon and went straight to Kanilai. Jammeh later got
the tape and I myself was put in the picture about the attempted coup. I can
tell you that it was the soldiers at State Guard that went after Sanneh.”
According
to him, it was Musa Jammeh, Ousman Sonko, and others that went in for Sanneh
and Almamo Manneh. “However, it was Sanneh that threw a grenade at them and in
return the arresting soldiers shot him. He was bleeding and taken to Yundum
Military Barrack. I was the one that instructed the soldiers at the Yundum
Barrack to make sure that they stop the bleeding. I in fact, told WO2 Sarr that
if he didn’t stop the bleeding I was going to dealt with him seriously.”
Jatta
added that he (Sanneh) would have died if he didn’t intervene and ask WO2 Sarr
to stop the bleeding.
“In
fact, I recommended to former President Yahya Jammeh that he (Sanneh) should be
taken to court so that the entire world could believe that it was a coup. I can
tell you that I saved Landing Sanneh’s life. If he is lying, Pierre Mendy is
the Battalion Commander of 1st Infantry Battalion, let’s talk to Pierre.”
He
said: “I’m not in to that nonsense and I am not Sanneh, a warrant officer who
participated in a coup and got promoted to an officer. His promotion is because
he did participate in the July 1994 government takeover but not any other
thing.”
Babucarr
Jatta, claimed that he was the one that protected the mass grave, saying even
Sanna B. Sabally, the former junta vice chair knew about that. “Landing Sanneh
once killed his own son when he was reversing back with his vehicle. Why should
he not be arrested? I can tell you that because order was given from the top or
else we were going to arrest him.”
Landing
Sanneh and Almamo Manneh, he went on, were untouchable during those days for
the fact that they were protected by Jammeh. He revealed that Sanneh one time
even shot a Nigerian national, saying “the Nigerian national cross at Jammeh’s
convoy. I charged him but at the end, nothing happened because he even refused
to give out his statements.”
The
former President Yahya Jammeh, he explained, later got fed-up with Sanneh and
Almamo. “We were later signalled about an attempted coup. I informed Jammeh
about it and he (Jammeh) said maybe because I didn’t like Sanneh and Almamo and
maybe because the information didn’t come from the then National Intelligence
Agency.”
