By MUHAMMED S. BAH
The Family of Sergeant Ebrima Ceesay, who went missing since 11th November 1994, continue to ask for his whereabouts, dead or alive. The Mother of Sergeant EM Ceesay is said to have died in 2004.
Dawda EM Ceesay, brother of Sergeant EM Ceesay came to Foroyaa’s office on Thursday 2nd November 2017, his eyes soaked with tears and he explained the situation his family has gone through and still continue to go through regarding his missing brother.
According to him, his family has gone through a lot of difficulties when his brother went missing in 1994. Sergeant Ceesay was said to be the breadwinner of the Family and the one who was paying school fees to all the younger members of the family including Dawda Ceesay himself. Sergeant Ceesay was said to be part of the Gambian soldiers, who went on a Peacekeeping mission to Liberia in 2013.
“Since then my mother cried for my brother until she developed stomach ache and died in 2004,” Dawda Ceesay explains.
Dawda further said that the family has received various stories from various military personnel who claimed to be close friends of his brother but that they as a family, don’t know what exactly to believe. “Sergeant Ceesay was doing his services at the Yundum Barracks. After he went missing, I was told that he went for a course abroad. Others told me that he was part of some soldiers who were killed in November 1994,” he said.
Dawda said they were also told that his brother was in Mile II prisons but that they visited the prisons, but he couldn’t be found.
He said his other elder brother, Ousman Ceesay who is next to Sergeant Ceesay, was a Journalist working with the then Independent Newspaper and Sud Fm as well, and was reporting about his missing brother frequently. “Ousman was later arrested and tortured severely, forcing him to go on exile in Dakar, where he is currently staying,” he said.
Dawda disclosed that the family has made attempts to reach Police and the defunct NIA but were very scared of their security at the time.
He said he is calling on the Gambian authorities to help his Family know the whereabouts of his brother.
“Even if he is dead we want to know where he is buried,” Dawda told this reporter.
This reporter called the PRO on his cell phone but it kept on ringing without answer.
Foroyaa will continue to engage the Police PRO on the issue.
