 |
| Jammeh's youngest victim - 4-week old Baby Fatty in PIU custody |
Please meet the Gambian dictator's youngest victim, This is 4-week old baby girl whom we will call simply Baby Fatty. Kaddy Fatty is her mother and Modou Fatty is the father who was arrested on April 16th together with the leader of Gambia's biggest opposition party for peacefully demonstrating against the excessive use of force that earlier led to the wounding and subsequent arrests of many protesters.
Solo Sandeng, a youth leader and executive member of the United Democratic Party was among those arrested, tortured and died from his wounds while in custody.
Baby Fatty's mother was returning from the High Court in Banjul where she witnessed the arraignment of her husband when her transport was stopped by paramilitary personnel and arrested, simply because she was suspected to be a UDP supporter and thus a protester.
She was severely beaten and taken into custody together with her 4-week old Baby Fatty.
Both detainees - mother and baby - are in custody at the PIU headquarters in Kanifing under the most filthy of conditions. The unhealthy environment usually takes a devastating toll on the health of adult detainees. One can only imagine the toll of 4-week old babies.
As we go to press, mother and baby are still in custody, under the same unhealthy conditions after the mother was beaten up and may need medical treatment. Many others arrested have been moved to Janjangbureh prisons which is a 310 Km from Banjul, according to unconfirmed reports.
Jammeh consolidated power on the backs of women with gimmicks and false declarations cloaked in slogans that projected him as leader of a women-friendly regime. The reality tells a different story with household poverty at an all-time high, negatively impacting women more than menfolk.
To continue giving the impression that women are the top priority of his regime, Jammeh encouraged his Moroccan wife to establish Foundations that ostensibly focus on women's and children's welfare and yet women have been as much victims of an increasingly violent regime as their male counterparts, especially women who support the opposition. To Jammeh, party affiliation and not gender are the determining factors of how well one is treated by the regime.
Demonstrations that rocked the Greater Banjul area are predominantly fueled and driven by women. And they have been the most visible as well. In fact, the leadership of the United Democratic Party is being provided by a woman. Jammeh is obviously shaken by the prominence of Gambian women in fueling the protest demonstrations with their numbers and vigilance. Jammeh consolidated power on the phony premise that he has the interest of women. All indications since 1994 have been suggesting otherwise.
Where is Zainab Jammeh, Gambia's First Lady in all this? When the country is in turmoil and women are fighting for political and economic freedom and being tortured and raped by her husband's security personnel, Zainab is planning another of her frequent trips to Tysons Corner in the U.S. for another shopping sprees at the expense of poor Gambian taxpayers.
Where are you Vice President, Isatou Njie-Saidy and Executive Secretary of Operation Save The Children when Gambian women continue to be raped and tortured and infant babies being thrown in jail with their mothers. Where are you?
