I cried after Jammeh’s defeat: Gambia opposition leader

By Alieu Manneh

BANJUL, Gambia (AA) – A major Gambian opposition leader told Anadolu in an exclusive interview that he cried in his lonely prison cell last week when a prison officer told him of the shock election defeat of Gambia’s strongman President Yahya Jammeh.

Ousainou Darboe, who calls his arrest and subsequent imprisonment “an honor,” was freed on bail on Dec. 5 after spending eight months behind bars.

“I thanked God when a prison officer told me that Jammeh has lost to the opposition and I was alone in my cell,” he recalled.

“And I cried because I reflected and asked myself, where are Sidia Sanyang, Sarjo Kujang Sanneh, Solo Sadeng, and Syngle Nyassi and others?” he said, remembering some of his United Democratic Party colleagues who died during their two-decade struggle against Jammeh.

“I cried because I thought that these are people who gave themselves up for the realization of that day. They are honorable people patriots lying in their honorable graves. We don’t know where Solo’s grave is, but we know it is an honorable grave.”

Darboe and his party were Jammeh’s biggest rivals during his 22-year reign, leaving a trail of dead opposition members in his wake, some alleged to have been killed by the outgoing leader.

- Keeping strong in prison

The opposition leader, who was jailed for holding an unauthorized protest with 18 others and was bailed two days ago, also decried the “bad” and “insufficient” food served to inmates in Gambia’s central prison, Mile 2, on the outskirts of the capital Banjul.

Darboe also said he did not regret his decision to take to the streets “because I know I have not committed any crimes and I also know that I was there for a worthy cause.”

He said that aside from the food, he was well treated by prison officers and fellow inmates, though the prison atmosphere created by the government was generally bad.

However, Darboe said despite the challenges, he was kept strong in prison by words from his youngest daughter, who told him while he was being arrested, "We’re behind you dad," as well as by reading the Quran and his commitment to end the dictatorship in Gambia.

During his arrest, Darboe also suffered a dislocated shoulder after a riot police officer pulled him from a truck as well as a head bruise but said he has "forgiven all those involved.”

Meanwhile, another group of 14 opposition United Democratic Party supporters who were still on trial for staging an unauthorized protest were freed on bail yesterday.