 |
| US Army Cptain Njaga Jagne |
 |
| Lt. Colonel Lamin Sanneh |
.jpg) |
| Momodou Njie, reportedly wounded |
Since the 30th December attack at State House,
the seat of government power, the dictatorial regime of Yaya Jammeh is still refusing
to hand over the body of US Army Captain Njaga Jagne, a veteran Iraqi and
Afghanistan wars.
The body of Lt. Col Lamin S. Sanneh, a resident and member
of the Maryland State Guard is also among the bodies of those lost their lives
in the attack against the State House, the seat of power of the regime of Yaya
Jammeh.
Another known person who took part in the December attack is
one Momodou Njie, a former presidential
guard who is reported to have been wounded and in a Banjul hospital where
conditions are deplorable.
Reports are that the conditions of the bodies are not under
the optimal condition because of the poor and irregular supply of electricity. The bodies have been held at the Banjul
mortuary under heavy military guard since US Army Captain Njaga Jagne and
Maryland National Guard Lt. Col. Lamin S. Sanneh lost
their lives fighting with government forces to remove a dictatorship that has
brought nothing but hardship and economic backwardness to a once democratic and
free-market nation in West Africa.
The regime’s insistence on holding the bodies of these
American veterans hostage for an entire month is psychologically traumatizing
as it is an illustration of the Gambian dictator’s macabre fascination with his
victims tortured bodies. Jammeh is known
to order his torture squad to videotape their sessions for him to watch at his
leisure time.
This psychopathic display of disrespect of the dead is both
inexcusable and unacceptable to Gambians as well as the American government. Therefore, the administration should redouble
its efforts by forcefully demand the release of the bodies returned to loved
ones for proper burial. The families of
these gallant men should not be put through this trauma. Their bodies must be released and those
wounded repatriated to their respective countries of residence.
Because of lack of transparency of the regime, it is unclear
as to the number and nationalities of all those killed and wounded. What is known, outside of retired US Army
Captain Njaga Jagne and Maryland National Guard Lt. Col. Lamin S. Sanneh, is
that there is a third victim identified as Momodou Njie, and presently suspected
to be under guard and perhaps being subjected to severe torture. It’s being listed as a resident of Spain.
This appeal is not only directed at the United States
government but also to all US veteran organizations but particularly to the Iraqi
and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
Do not leave your own behind, even it is not is a typical battlefield.
But nonetheless a battlefield for them fighting an undemocratic, despotic and
tyrannical regime that is against everything America stands for.
