Gambia August 27, 2004

H.E. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh
President
State House
Banjul
Republic of Gambia
Fax: (011.220) 22-70-34

Your Excellency:

We write to express serious concern for our colleague, Ebrima Sillah, a prominent Gambian journalist
and a correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation.

According to news reports, shortly before dawn on August 15th, invaders smashed the windows of Sillah@quot;s house in Banjul, splashed gasoline about the place and set fire. Sillah escaped without injury while neighbors helped put out the fire, which caused serious damage.

Sillah had earlier shared the threats against him with police in Banjul, yet, no investigation of the attack on his house is being undertaken. This is especially troubling given the pattern of arson attacks on Gambian media.

Only last month, the BBC in London received a letter signed, “The Green Boys,” condemning Sillah of “bias” in his report on the 10-year anniversary of the coup that brought Your Excellency to power in 1994. It has been widely speculated that the “Green Boys” take their name from the color of the flag of your Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC). What made the fire doubly suspicious is that several days preceding it, Demba Jawo, president of the Gambia Press Union, received an anonymous letter criticizing Gambia’s independent press for its coverage of Your Excellency and the APRC. “Very soon,” the letter warned, “we will teach one of your journalists a very good lesson.”

Last April 13th — three months after the Green Boys” threatened to kill the Independent@quot;s managing editor, Alagi Yorro Jallow — men invaded the presses of the bi-weekly, Independent. Shots were fired, equipment doused with gasoline and burned. Last October, the Independent‘s editorial office in Banjul was also set afire by unidentified men. And in August, 2000, the offices of independent Radio 1 FM were set ablaze, forcing the station off the air for two days. To our knowledge, no one has been charged in any of these attacks.

The apparent indifference to this pattern of attacks on Gambia’s free press is shocking, Your Excellency. It signals that journalists and, indeed, any Gambian with a dissenting voice can be attacked with impunity. We urge you to stand for fundamental democratic freedoms and do all in your power to see that the enemies of free expression are found and brought to justice.

Respectfully yours,

Kevin McDermott Norman A. Schorr
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:

Lena Manga Sagnia Seck
Charge d’Affaires
Embassy of the Republic of Gambia
1155 Fiteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Fas: (202) 785-1430

Ambassador Crispin Grey-Johnson
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Gambia
to the United Nations
800 Second Avenue, Suite 400-F
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 856-9820

Jackson McDonald
U.S. Ambassador to Gambia
Embassy of the United States of America
P.M.B. No. 19
Banjul
Gambia
Fax: (011.220) 39-24-75

Hon. John O. Kakonge
United Nations House
P.O.Box 553
Banjul
Gambia
Fax: (011.220) 49-47-58

Ms. Lawanda Kamara
Celebrate Africa Foundation
44 East 32nd Street
New York, NY 10016
Fax: (973) 675-5704