Former Chief Staff Says Jammeh Ordered Nov. 11 Massacre

By Adama Makasuba

Demba Njie, former chief staff of State House has told the Truth Commission that former president Yahya Jammeh ordered the massacre of November 11, soldiers alleged to have attempted a coup.

“I heard Yahya Jammeh said kill them all the Rank Leaders, I heard that, I will never forget,” Njie broke into tears.

He then said on the day of November 11, he found Jammeh in a very confused mood, and was moving up and down saying to soldiers that he is going to fight the coup plotters and that soldiers were begging him to calm down.

He also added that: “The first time I heard kill, I regretted being a soldier because they (Junta members) believed that they were soldiers with different, I felt ashamed and very worried.”

He further labeled Jammeh as a troublemaker who did not take order from his seniors but added that Jammeh was very smart on whatever he was doing.

He added that ‘Yahya Jammeh was a troublemaker’, stating that Jammeh jokingly told him a day after the 1994 coup that ‘boy if I had met you here yesterday I would have blown off your head and I said you cannot do anything to me’.

He said Jammeh later went to attacked Bakau Police Station with his boys at night and mercilessly beat the police personnel there at the time, adding that Jammeh himself confessed that to him on the following day and that he denounced his action on the Police Station.

He told the Commission that 1994 Coup was a setup one and that it could have been foiled with the resistance of the soldiers at the State House at the time with their AK47 rifles.

Meanwhile, Mr. Njie was asked to reappear before the Commission to shed light on other issues as he was bereft.