5th January, 2015
US prosecutors on Monday charged two men with conspiring to overthrow the government of Gambia in a failed coup ostensibly aimed at restoring democracy to the small west African nation.
US-Gambian dual national Papa Faal and US resident Cherno Njie were arrested in the United States after they returned from Gambia, where they had travelled to help launch a December 30 coup attempt against President Yahya Jammeh’s government, according to the US Justice Department.
Faal, 46, was expected to make an initial appearance in court Monday in his home state of Minnesota, while Njie, 57, living in Texas, was to appear Monday in US District Court in Baltimore, Maryland.
“These defendants stand accused of conspiring to carry out the violent overthrow of a foreign government, in violation of US law,” US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
“The United States strongly condemns such conspiracies. With these serious charges, the United States is committed to holding them fully responsible for their actions.”
According to a criminal complaint released by the Justice Department, an FBI agent interviewed Faal, who described his own participation “as a member of a group of fighters responsible for the attempted coup.”
Faal also identified Njie as one of the coup’s leaders and main financiers, and told the FBI agent that “Njie was also planning to serve as the interim leader of The Gambia upon the successful completion of the coup.”
The men are charged with conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act, which prohibits US citizens or residents from taking up arms or plotting against a nation at peace with America, and conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Last month’s attack was repelled by security forces, and at least three suspected attackers died during the fighting, according to unconfirmed reports.
On January 1, strongman Jammeh — who has ruled Gambia with an iron fist for 20 years — blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and “terrorists” for the assault on his presidential palace.
– ‘Willing to shoot’ president –
The criminal complaint details a plot cobbled together by men of Gambian origin including Faal, who had not lived in Gambia for 23 years but agreed to join the movement last August because he grew angry with the way “the president was rigging elections.”
According to Faal, the group had planned to ambush Jammeh’s convoy as he toured the country around the Christmas holiday.
“They hoped the president would surrender, but were willing to shoot him if he fired at them,” Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Nicholas Marshall, who interviewed Faal, said in his affidavit.
When Jammeh opted instead to travel outside Gambia, the plotters changed course and attacked State House, where they were repelled.
During the planning stages, Faal and other plotters had each purchased eight guns including semi-automatic rifles in the United States, packed them into barrels and illegally shipped them to Gambia last year to be used in the coup effort.
Thirty guns were shipped, as well as body armor and night-vision goggles.
Faal said he believed a larger group would travel to Gambia but that ultimately only 10 to 12 went to carry out the coup, “including some members from the United Kingdom.”
Njie, a businessman in Texas, held back from the doomed fighting in Gambia because he was to be installed as interim leader.
He returned to the United States on Saturday and was immediately arrested. He refused to be interviewed by the FBI.
According to the complaint, a search of Njie’s Texas property found a document entitled “Gambia Reborn: A Charter for Transition from Dictatorship to Democracy and Development.”