The Banjul Magistrates’ Court yesterday began trial proceedings in the case of the nine Senegalese from the southern region of Casamance over various charges, including terrorism and espionage.

The men are suspected members of the separatist MFDC rebel movement of Casamance.  

Testifying before magistrate B.Y. Camara at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court yesterday, the first state witness, Salifu Nyang, a police officer attached to Kairaba police station CID office, recounted that he was sometime ago summoned by the Crime Management Co-ordinator at the police headquarters in Banjul and instructed to go to the NIA Office to investigate the activities of Casamance rebels in The Gambia.

According to him, he thereupon went to the NIA Office in Banjul, where he was taken before a panel comprising police, army and NIA representatives, adding that the accused persons were brought one after the other before the panel.

Officer Nyang informed the court that Sidat Jarju, the 1st accused, was the first to appear before the panel where he was questioned about whether he is a Gambian national and, if not, whether he had any document to legalise his stay in the country. In response, officer Nyang went on, the 1st accused said that he hailed from Casamance and was in possession of a Gambian ID card.

State witness no. 1 further informed the court that the 1st accused revealed to the panel that the Senegalese government allocated them CFA 3m per month and that one Abdou Latif Hydara of the President’s Office in Dakar was the intermediary for the transfer of the monies.

According to detective Nyang, the 1st accused also informed the panel that the said Hydara, accompanied by an official of the Senegalese High Commission in Banjul, paid them a visit. The witness disclosed further that subsequent investigations by the Gambian security agents established that the money was handed over to the 1st accused at Praia Motel in Serekunda.

The 1st accused, detective Nyang went on, was further quizzed by the panel as to the logic behind their supposed funding by the Senegalese government when they belonged to a movement which is to all intents and purposes at war with the Senegalese government. The 1st accused, he added, could not respond to this. 

Officer Nyang told the court that a bag containing talisman, a laptop, military camouflage, camera as well as two motor bikes and cash books, were produced before the panel.

Detective Nyang further testified that one of the accused persons, Lamin Teww Sambou, told the panel that the motor bikes were given to them by the government of Senegal, adding that CFA 7,790,000m and 1000 euro were also produced before the panel. The monies, he added, were found on Sidat Jarju at the time of his arrest and that Sidat had told the panel that the monies were given to them by the Senegalese government as means of support to them in the course of their activities. He pointed out that Sidat had told the panel that they were in groups of five, noting that all the accused persons were rebels from MFDC.

Officer Nyang also told the court that he and other officers had, at some point, accompanied Sidat to Sousou Photo Lab where a film was developed and it was discovered that some of the pictures were of security installations in The Gambia of which he said he could only remember two: the gates of Fajara military barracks and State House. When Sidat was asked to explain the reasons for this, he could not respond.

He said after the accused person’s explanation, he (Nyang) was ordered to obtain a statement from him (the 1st accused), which he said he did in the presence of an independent witness.

Hearing continues today.