NIA Operations commander details his 20 minutes torture, accused of aiding rebels

By Adama Makasuba

Operations Commander of the nation’s Intelligence Agency has given a detail narration of how he suffered a 20 minutes brutal torture in the hands of his colleagues over the accusation of aiding rebels of the Casamance of the Senegalese south region.

Testifying before the TRRC on Wednesday, Kebba Secka, said he was arrested after one of the Casamance rebels got arrested in the country with a motorcycle. He said the operatives of the NIA whom he worked with arrested him and accused him of working with the rebels without investigating the matter.

Mr Secka, 49, was interrogated at the agency’s headquarters where he said he was stripped off his clothes by one Edirisa Jobe and mercilessly tortured.

“Edirisa Jobe started shouting and insulting my mother and he came towards me and stripped me off, put handcuffed on me and started beating me. All upon, he called Lamin Darboe to join him in the beaten,” he explained putting his palms around his face.

Despite having high regard for his torturers as he said, they couldn’t spare him of anything during the torture saying “no they tell [told] us they have information.”

“They were using wires and I have to struggle to lie on my stomach to protect my face I gave them my back, legs and everywhere except my face. It lasted for 20 minutes then Babucarr RK Jallow intervened. He told them to stop the beating and let me speak out while they should find out (the truth) first,” he told the commission.