Gambia’s Interior Minister Confirms Solo’s Murder Without Remorse

Solo
Solo Sandeng, Steve Biko of Gambia, was brutally killed for defending democracy!

The Gambia’s Interior Minister is yet to muster the courage to confirm Solo Sandeng’s murder on national media. Osman Sonko however has the audacity to tell diplomats in the neighbouring Senegal what the whole world has been waiting for: it is indeed true that Solo Sandeng died in custody. Without a remorse, Sonko wanted the cold-blooded murder of the opposition United Democratic Party Organising Secretary to be put behind. “It’s happened and it’s time to move on,” Sonko said. He was economical in his words principally to avoid contradicting himself, a tactic deployed by criminals to get away with crimes they commit.

As the Interior Minister, Sonko is responsible for guaranteeing the security of every Gambian, including Solo Sandeng. He has not only failed in his responsibility to protect an innocent citizen from cold-blooded murder but also denied his family the right to bury their beloved in a decent and proper manner. In the words of Lawyer Ousting Darboe, Mr. Sandeng  who led a peaceful protest on April 14th, “was buried like a dog.”

Sonko’s ministry is yet to produce Solo Sandeng even though  defence lawyers have filed application to that effect. Instead the government has since mid-April been beating and rounding up peaceful protesters. The same government is remote controlling a mercenary judge in the person of Justice Ottaba to deny arraigned detainees bail. Justice Ottaba cited security  reasons to deny detainees bail.

Now that Osman Sonko confirmed Solo Sandeng’s death, he has opened enough room for the European Union to freeze assets as well as slap sanctions on officials of a regime that has been feeding on innocent people’s blood.

Ends

23 Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing this tragic confirmation of what we all knew. The underlying tragedy is that in a dictatorship, especially of the extremely malignant sort we currently have in The Gambia, government ministers and other officials have absolutely no voice at all independent of the despot’s voice. They can only open their mouths when given orders from above to do so – on every single issue that is remotely controversial. They are only free to sing the despot’s praises without permission. Other than that, they are literally robots in human skin with no independent agency whatsoever. Maybe Sonko was told by “above” – “if they ask about this Sandeng thing just tell them it has happened and we should move on.”

  2. Mr Sonko will ultimately pay the price for his support and involment in killing of innocent citizens .

  3. Alimatou Sarr

    Great. Let them understand that they are being followed wherever they are. That’s the winning strategy. By that we keep the monster government officials on their toes. Bravo Kairo News.

  4. So these stupid people fear Gambians. That says it all. We are winning because the enemy is pushed to the wall.

  5. We have to continue to be steadfast and relentlessly remain defiant. Simple demand being Solo’s Body. The body of Solo must be retrieved wherever buried. Moving on cannot be an option.

    All must close ranks and support on the ground or fund the activities of those on the ground to stand ground. Our fund raising is equally as important as protesting on the streets. It is also the measure of our commitment to standby those killed or being incarcerated.

  6. Scarlet Pimpernel

    He ain’t Gambian at the first place for him to be remorseful. This guy is neck deep in the murder of numerous people including that of Deyda Hydara. He and the other pillars of the despot know they have no future.

  7. Knowing Sonko the way I know him, he is more devilish than Satan himself.

    When Solo and his colleagues were brought to the PIU, Ousman was on the ground and his orders were “bring them out, we are going to give them VIP treatment”.

    He personally supervised the tortures doing what he does best, harm others while taking pride in it.

    May the curse and the wrath of Allah engulf him, his boss and all those that carry out their illegal orders to gsrm and hurt innocent Gambians. Amen.

  8. Gambia, I think you are hypocritical because i asked you here other the time what you know about those who are responsible for the killing of innocent citizens but you never answered my question up to today . If you are a patriotic citizen why cant you reveal the truth you know about those who killed Gambian citizens. if you continue to refuse to give this details then you are just being hypocritical . Aiding and abetting a criminal is a crime . In civilized society you will taken to court for refusing to report a crime. you are on the record here that you have valuable information about those who killed Gambians and i think you should do yourself justice and rest of the Gambians to reveal the truth. This fight is our fight , you cannot sit down with valuable information till the regime is gone . we need to expose this regime. so please tell us what you know and don’t be a coward.

    • You don’t seem to fully understand the meaning of the word, “hypocrite”, from which “hypocrisy” comes..

      Failure to answer your question, or witholding (from you) information you deem “valuable”, does not make someone a “hypocrite”…Whatever information Gambian has will be far more valuable where proper investigation is being carried out or prosecution is taking place…

      Divulging valuable information about individuals who are still in positions of power and influence may be unwise and premature, because it can allow them to begin taking steps to either eliminate the evidence or even any potential witnesses.

      Sometimes, you sound like an empty headed dude, despite your passion for change.

      My advice to you is to be positive and direct all this energy towards orderly change, but most importantly, be realistic about The Gambian political situation.

      That way, you don’t leave yourself open to disappointments and frustrations, due to misreading events and situations, especially in The Gambia…

      • Bax said “Divulging valuable information about individuals who are still in positions of power and influence may be unwise and premature, because it can allow them to begin taking steps to either eliminate the evidence or even any potential witnesses”.

        From the above statement , you have once again demonstrated your willingness to distort the truth and discourage any effort to expose the regime. From your absurd and ridiculous statement , you believe that we should wait till when the regime is out of power then we can expose their human rights violations but not now . If that is your belief then why do you have political parties , international human rights organizations , rights and advocacy groups which with the help of brave and decent citizens , continue to expose the regime’s human rights violations such as extra-judicial killings , murders of innocent citizens and other human right violations ? You must be out of your mind . You clearly continue to show your ignorance and indifference about current Gambia’s situation. In fact you are deliberately distorting the truth and you continue to advocate for the sustainability of the regime under the false text of being an opposition sympathizer, Every day , you write you continue to make outlandish claims which has no place in the civilized world . I am not sure about your level of education but your level of ignorance and lack of concern for human rights violations in our country is very scary. You might disagree with my political view but when the truth is told , you should stand up and support it . That is decency. It is the same reason your party leadership continue to refuse to stand up for the truth , justice and constitutionals rights of peaceful protesters at this hour.

        • When did “valuable information” become synonymous with “human rights abuses”..?

          How could any sensible person come to the conclusion that “witholding valuable information is the same as saying that “human rights abuses” should not be exposed.?

          Human rights abuses, extra-judicial killings, corruption, etc, should be exposed by anyone who has such information, but information (for example), like “Jammeh’s secret escape plan,” should not be exposed here…

          What do you think will now happen, if your information is indeed accurate.? Can’t you see that you have given Jammeh the opportunity to change his “secret” escape plans.? What use is that information to anyone on this forum, if I may ask.?

    • @Max…” If you are a patriotic citizen….”

      You do realise that you sound like Yaya Jammeh sometimes. Like Jammeh, you divide Gambians into two groups : the “patriotic” and the “unpatriotic”.

      You need to understand that political differences should not be a criteria to establish “patriotism” or otherwise. We can differ on how we can achieve our goals without us seeing each other as unpatriotic..

      “Patriotic” and “unpatriotic” labelling was alien to our political discourse until.Yaya Jammeh came in 1994..Let’s try and.banish that with him, forever..

  9. May Allah (SWT) have mercy on our deceased brother and forgive him for his humanly shortcomings. May he be granted Jannah…May his family be strengthened to bear their loss with dignity….Amen

    Words cannot describe the attitude of Sonko, as a human being and state official, if the alleged statement (it’s happened, let’s move on) came from him..

    Ousman Sonko and VP Njie-Saidy, being two of the longest serving cabinet officials, are persons of interest for any incoming government that wants to look into the activities of the APRC administration…And the day of reckoning will surely come for these two, in particular, for their roles in this rule of impunity.

  10. Max, I would recommend that you return to school to learn the meanings of some basic words and most importantly, learn what protocols and procedures are as well as self respect.

    First of all, please refer to the archives of Kairo news. I am on record here for exposing a lot of and even serialising Sonko’s crimes here.

    On the other hand, when has this forum turned into a commission of enquiry to investigate crimes and excesses perpetrated on Gambians? We have said and are committed to availing our self to any such enquiry and would provide such information that would yield fruit and expose the truth of value.

    In the mean time, what does appeasing you Max mean for the average Gambian. You who never see truth beyond his nose and beyond his narrow and I’ll informed boundaries.

    Truth and patriotism are not measured by your yardstick Max. Learn to accept differences in opinions and approaches.

    We are good citizens who served our country with dignity and pride and our records are as clean as crystal. That is our motivation and we don’t care about your views.

    • Gambia, it is not about appeasing me, it is about setting the record straight about what you know regarding the killings of your fellow citizens. In Any civilized society, if you are privy to evidence of crime and you failed to report it, that is a crime. Withholding or concealing evidence is a crime. It is selfishness, unpatriotic and inhuman to be sitting on valuable information when you know the victims families are desparately looking for answers . How about if you die tomorrow, may God forbid, the valuable information you have will never be exposed. That is selfish.
      The reason why UDP leadership and entire world learned about the death of solo Sanderg and tortured of Nogoi Njie and the rest, was because someone exposed the news to them which resulted to their protest. I will call you out because it is from your mouth that you have evidence of crimes committed under this regime. There are hundreds of former security service men and women like you who are privacy to killings or human rights violations of your fellow citizens, and they are keeping quite or stay mute about those crimes while you continue to blame the regime. If you expose the names of these killers, it will send a clear message to them that the world whole knows who they are. It will have a psychological impact on them daily and it will help the victims families to identify and prepare for legal action. It will also prevent others from participating in such crimes. Failure to report or expose these crimes you witnessed is tantamount to enabling the system to continue its human Right volations. If your family member was the victim, would you sit and wait till when the regime is gone and start to talk about those involved in the killing of your family member? I doubt you will do because I will never do it. So please put yourself in the position of victims families. Today the world is aware of human rights violations in the Gambia thanks to the brave men and women who took it Upon themselves to expose the regime’s human rights violations to various human rights organizations.
      My goal here is keeping you honest or anyone in this forum. I have given you ample time to respond to my question but you refused, so I have every right to question what you know. If you are living in area where I am living right now, I would have called police on you because you claimed to have evidence of crime and failed to report it.
      Gambians needs to stop sitting on valuable information which are detrimental to national security. If we want to be each other’s keeper, we need to speak up and expose injustice, corruption human right violations. Withholding information is the same as those cowards who hide their faces when they tortured Nogoi Njie.
      Bax, I won’t mind you because I know you will never speak the truth or defend it. So that is the nature of your contribution. I am sure in uk, if you hide evidence of crime, you will be taken to court for concealment of evidence or obstruction of justice. Use your brain to connect the dots .

  11. Max, this is why I told you that you are a child who is immature. Didn’t I told you to refer to Kairo news archives for some of the information you so desperately seek for your self satisfaction.

    Yes Darboe and co got information on Solo’s torture and death from loyal officers. But do you know the identity of those officers?

    Giving those information to political leaders and HR organizations is vital, true. But are you one of such?? Surely you are not.

    Concealment of evidence to lawful authority is a crime. True. But when did you Max became such authority or this forum such an enquiry???

    On a similar footing, are you as well aware of what is called official secrecy act?

    What we the good sons and daughters of the Gambia are doing is to document evidence, preserve it and share it on need bases until when there are competent and legally constituted enquiry and investigation, then we can provide such information as required.

    Where do you think the politicians, HR organizations and the Intl community are getting their information on the Gambia from? Is it from you, or are they just extracting them from such forum?

    Max, decent Gambians like me are fully aware of our responsibilities to our country and our people, that is why we choose to serve them in the first place.

    Being arrogant in the cyber space or disrespectful to others does not benefit anyone. It only show your characters which you should be trying to improve.

    • Gambia , I think it is silly and absurd argument to indicate that asking you the right question is disrespectful . You must be out of your mind . If you have decency in your presentation , you won’t have cowardly hide vital information the victim families are desparately looking for . Where is the character of honesty and decency when you refused to inform your fellow citizens about evidence of crime you claimed to have witnessed . You might have served the security service but hey I also served in another capacity where I contributed to national development . So stop telling us you served . What is more important here is to reveal the truth which you refused to reveal . You should preach respect to yourself because you lack decency and honesty to speak the truth despite the fact that you have claimed to have evidence . You never answered any of my question while you foolishly blame the regime. It is indeed selfishness and cowardice to hide evidence of crime .
      So in your narrow mind , hiding evidence is official serecy . What a despicable and ignorance statement . This is type of ignorance mentality display by some very ignorance officers like you who cowardly hide evidence of crime .
      I do not see any decency in someone who refused to give evidence of crime till when the regime is out of power . That is selfishness and cowardice period . Please don’t tell me again you have served because we have some killers who are currently serving . Decency , honesty and integrity are what we are looking for in security officers who served or any one working for Public office . Hiding evidence is indecency , corrupt and injustice to the Gambian people . I like to see your evidence or else I will make this forum hell for you because I will continue to ask where is the evidence mr security officer . Thank you .

    • All I want is for you to publish or give the names of those killers you know . Or simply give your evidence to kaironews for publication . My conscience cannot leave you Scot free when you claimed to have evidence of crime . This is very simple request I am making . I don’t think that is childish or disrespectful . It is sense of responsibility as a citizen to find answer . I don’t know what you are Afraid of . Every day I am advocating for the victims so I cannot sit here idly by and ignore your claim . Give us the evidence . By giving evidence to kaironews , the victim families will learn about the killers and their crime will become a public knowledge . I cannot allow you among our midst to hide evidence while you continue to blame the regime . It is hypocrisy and injustice to hide information . I hope you do yourself justice to reveal your evidence .

  12. May his soul rest in perfect peace. He will never go. He is here to stay.

  13. Max, establish a commission of enquiry or appoint yourself a human right institution, then you can summon me and professionals like me to come and testify.

    As long as you are not one of such and you are not a representative of a particular victims family or attorney, you are a mere insignificant person.

    What official capacity do you hold that gives you the right to know? And tell me how you are going to use that information today to benefit the victims.

    Please don’t tell me you will inform the courts or pass it to HR agencies. That would be hearsay evidence as you are not the originator of that information.

    This is my last response to you on this subject because correcting a fool only make him more foolish.

  14. Bax, Gambia did not kill Solo. Let’s concentrate on getting those whose hands are drenched in blood. That is the task ahead. Gambia or anyone else in custody of evidences will come forward when the time is right.
    By the way, the names of most of these jungulars or ministers are public knowledge. The system providing cover is solely responsible for this impunity.

    • Kinteh , first of all you either do not understand or you are not the following the discussion with Gambia . No body here is saying that Gambia killed any one or solo Sanderg . I hope you get that . Secondly it was Gambia who stated in this forum sometime ago that he had evidence of crime which he witnessed but he is not going to reveal till the regime is gone when the proper investigation will start . At the time I asked him to reveal the evidence of crime he has so that the victim families and the world will know who are those killers and the crimes they committed . He never answered my question since then and yesterday I repeated the same request for him to reveal these killers or evidence of crime he has . Thus this is what the discussion is about .
      I know the task ahead of us and we are all outraged about recent killing because it was wrong . we still have people who protect these killers and refuse to come forward . It is the Gambians who are protecting these people . But if you are honest to yourself , where you live right now if you some one come forward and claim that he has evidence of crime , would you not alert the police or authority about such claim especially if that person was an ex security officer ? I bet if you are a decent human being who care about humanity , you will take steps to ensure that person reveal his evidence . This is exactly why I want Gambia to reveal the evidence he has . It is wrong to suggest that we know most of the killers in this regime . That is not true and it is factually misleading . Prior to Nogoi Njie testimony , many Gambians did not know about sheikh Tijan jeng but today he is well known by most Gambians . Majority did not know the killers in our midst or those who are protecting Jammeh . So let us stop the hypocrisy and stand firmly aganist injustice , corruption and selfishness . Today , the reason why we still have Jammeh is simply because people protect those who commit crime on his behalf . There are hundreds of Gambians living in diaspora and in the Gambia who are privacy to crime during their tenure in the security service and government but now they are keeping quite while at the same time hypocritically blaming the same regime which they helped to conceal their evidence . What time is the best or right time to reveal evidence of crime ? How about those with such evidence if they die before Jammeh is gone ? Let us all use our brain and be reasonable . Many of these killers are our uncles, brothers and cousins . If we start to expose these killers , their bosses too will be careful and would know that they are being monitored .
      Each and every Gambian need to do personal assessment . In USA , for the interest of the general population , if you see something bad you say something to protect everyone . We have to be each other’s keeper .
      In The Gambia , only few people are speaking up and the rest are keeping quite . It is a cultural problem . How can some one with evidence of crime sit down for a long time without his conscience telling him to do the right thing . We have people who were very closed to Jammeh or whose family members are responsible for these crimes , corruption and mismanagement but no one is coming forward to expose these people . Jammeh is reflection of majority , plain and simple .
      The right thing to do is to reveal what he knows . If you are Blaming only the ministers , jugulars and you refuse to expose other killers, it is hypocritical and is wrong .

  15. Gambia, You cannot do any better explanation for a person like Max. Its unfortunate that some Gambians think that opposition is all about sentiments. Sentiments should go with reason and commonsense.