By Yankuba Jallow & Momodou Jarju
Ensa Mendy, a soldier who has participated in foiling the 11th November 1994 coup has admitted torturing Lieutenant Abdoulie ‘Dot’ Faal and other soldiers.
Mendy made this remark before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) on Thursday the 28th March 2019.
He said in August 1994, he was deployed to the Department of State of Local Government and Land as an orderly to Lieutenant Yankuba Touray who doubles as the Secretary of State of that Department. He said he was identified by Lieutenant Basirou Barrow to become an orderly to Lieutenant Touray.
About the November 11 Incident
He said there was rumour of coup and one Almamo Manneh, a soldier attached at the State House issued them with new weapons. He said they were briefed that they should counter the coup makers by Almamo Manneh. He said he joined the group of about 30 men headed by the members of the AFPRC members. He said the junta members who were in that group were Lieutenant Sanna Sabally, Lieutenant Yankuba Touray, Lieutenant Sadibou Hydara, Lieutenant Edward Singhateh and Lieutenant Peter Singhateh.
He said they occupied the Yundum Barracks without any resistance from the soldiers. He explained that they entered through the back gate and met soldiers taking their dinner.
“We occupied the camp without any resistance. We took charge of the guard room,” the witness said.
He said around 1 am of the 11th November 1994, Lieutenant Basirou Barrow was caught by Corporal Malafi Corr and his men. He said Corr was a State Guard soldier.
“Malafi Corr said Ahuwa,” the witness said and Lieutenant Basirou Barrow said “Ahuwa. Let us go and fuck those bastards.”
The witness said this was the time Corr and his men arrested Barrow, stripped and removed all the jujus he wore. He added that Lieutenant Sanna Sabally ordered that Barrow be taken to the cell.
“The people were scrambling at Lieutenant Barrow at the time they were removing his jujus on his body. He was mercilessly beaten and he was taken to the cells,” the witness said.
He said other soldiers arrested at the Yundum Barracks included ‘Dot’ Faal at the last centry post of the Barracks.
“He (‘Dot’ Faal) was beaten. He did not enter (the camp) because he was apprehended,” the witness said.
“We (the orderlies) collectively beat ‘Dot’ Faal mercilessly,” the witness said.
The witness said after some hours, Lieutenant Sanna Sabally ordered for them to go to the Fajara Barracks.
“Sanna Sabally was the senior Council member and he was the leader,” he said.
He said at the Fajara Barracks, they received resistance from them.
“They were firing at us and we fired back. We asked the junior soldiers to join us and they joined us. The senior non-commissioned officers were arrested,” he said.
He said later, Sanna Sabally paraded them at the football field at the Barracks and ordered that they shoot the captured soldiers.
“We responded by shooting at them. Two soldiers fell down and the rest were running. All the Council members were firing along with us. We left the bodies of the fallen soldiers at the field,” the witness said.
He said after the firing, Sanna Sabally led them to the Yundum Barracks. He explained that Sergeant Fafa Nyang was brought out by Corporal Alagie Kanyi and Lance Corporal Baboucar Ndour.
“Fafa Nyang swore that he was not part of the coup plot but Sanna Sabally ordered for him to be taken away and shot. Fafa was shot on the stomach and his intestines were out and it was this time when Lamin Colley shot him on his head,” the witness said.
He said the shot was not an accidental shot because a well-trained military man knows that each gun has safety-catch.
“The proposition that the accidental discharge by Lamin Colley is a fallacy,” the witness said.
He said he did not participate in the burial of the murdered soldiers.
“Fafa Nyang was my immediate boss. He was my section commander at Farafenni army training school. I cried after he was killed,” the witness said.
He said they left for the State House and they were jubilating for successfully foiling the attempted coup.
He said when they left the State House; he went with Lieutenant Yankuba Touray at his residence and later in the day went for weekend.
He denied taking part in the execution of soldiers and officers at the range around the Nyambai Forest, stating the allegation is not true.
“From Yankuba Touray’s house, I went home,” the witness said.
He said the announcement that Lieutenant Sanna Sabally made at the Radio Gambia was not true.
About the Murder of Koro Ceesay
The witness said the murder of Koro Ceesay, an ex-Secretary of State of Finance during the reign of the defunct AFPRC happened on the same day the Chairman of the Council (AFPRC), Yahya AJJ Jammeh was leaving for the AU-Summit.
He said after the Chairman left, Lieutenant Yankuba Touray asked him to use his personal car with his driver to go home whilst he joined the vehicle of one of the Council members to go home.
“This was not usual,” the witness said.
He said later Touray called him and asked him to the beachside to apprehend a canoe that was coming. He said he went with a group of 5 and they were all armed and in military uniform. He said later, Touray called them to come back home.
He said when they came back, they met the house dirtied with mud and saw the Uniform of Yankuba Touray burnt and having mud.
He said he later heard that Koro Ceesay was murdered.
“I suspected that Yankuba Touray participated in the murder of Koro Ceesay because it happened in his house,” the witness said.
About the Witness
Ensa Mendy said he was born on the 25th December 1969 in Brikama. In 1988, he was employed as unqualified teacher by the Roman Catholic Mission until 1990 when he went for the Gambia National Army selection. He said after his training, he was deployed to the Yundum Barracks under the Delta Company.
