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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Gambia failed coup participants flee to Guinea-Bissau |
| 2015-01-02 |
| [News24] Four officers suspected of participating in a failed military coup against Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... 's strongman President Yahya Jammeh have taken refuge in Guinea-Bissau, a military source in the west African country told AFP on Thursday. They "arrived on Wednesday evening in Bissau and turned themselves in to the [military] authorities", the source in Bissau told AFP. The source, who asked not to be identified, did not explain how the runaways had reached Guinea-Bissau, which is to the south of Gambia, but separated by Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... A group of heavily gunnies led by an army deserter attacked the presidential palace in the Gambian capital Banjul before dawn on Tuesday, but were repelled by forces loyal to Jammeh, who has ruled for 20 years. Jammeh returned overnight on Wednesday from Dubai where he was on a private visit at the time of the putsch attempt. Three suspects including the alleged ringleader identified as Lamin Sanneh were killed, according to a military officer. According to a diplomatic source in Banjul, Jammeh appears to be preparing a purge of opponents, with "accusations flying". Jammeh on Thursday blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and "terrorists" for an assault on his presidential palace and said that the army remains loyal. "It is an attack by dissidents based in the US, Germany and UK," Jammeh said in a televised address. "This was not a coup. This was an attack by a terrorist group backed by some powers that I would not name." "The names of military and civilian individuals are starting to be put on the table" at the feared National Intelligence Agency," the source said. "I'm afraid that innocent people are going to be caught up through denunciations." |
| Posted by:Fred |