He wasn’t an ordinary Inspector General of police and Minister of interior under the Jammeh regime. He did not come from the ranks and decades of distinguished service in the Gambia police force. Neither does he have a legal and law enforcement training background. Ousman Sonko was an army officer with absolutely no background in police training or national security Intelligence. He has little to no substantial education background or training apart from being a soldier who has been in the army since 1988 with short training courses mainly designed as enticement for officers to earn Per Diem to make them feel valued.
So how did Ousman Sonko became the head of the country’s law enforcement body which was one time regarded as one of the best police force in the subregion? Ousman Sonko was purposely hand-picked by Jammeh from the State guard command to become an IGP and eventually minister of interior for one purpose only “to operate with Jammeh’s Junglers and the NIA to execute illegal orders from Yahya Jammeh”. Ousman Sonko for more than a decade as IGP and Interior Minister was not just another minister appointed and used by the dictator as a symbol with no knowledge of his inner operations. He was at the front seat, making decisions, recommendations and executing orders directly from Jammeh.
A close police operative this paper spoke to said “anything that happens in the Jammeh regime during his tenure as IGP and Interior Minister, Ousman Sonko was either a part of it or coordinated the orders that were given by Jammeh”. His finger prints are all over some of the major crimes committed by and during the APRC regime. Junior officers who deserted the army are on record admitting that they were in fact part and parcel of Yahya Jammeh’s junglers whose sole responsibility was to stage arson attacks on Independent news outlets and covertly assassinate and eliminate strong government opponents. Sonko was said to have masterminded the assassination of high profile Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara on December 16th, 2004. He was reported to have been the one monitoring Deyda’s movement while the assassins pursued Deyda’s movement in his vehicle. According to the GambiaEcho one of the most respected Gambian online newspapers based in the United States “for the past 22 years, Ousman Sonko has participated in the arrest, abduction, detention, torture, disappearance, murder of Gambian non-Gambians across the military spectrum” The Echo further described Sonko as a “remorseless taciturn” who enjoys carrying illegal orders to systematically eliminate government opponents.
Ousman Sonko who earned the respect of his boss for not only carrying illegal orders but also fabricating allegations of coup against Jammeh’s other close aides. He was believed to have also orchestrated the elimination of former NIA Director Daba Marenah and six other officers who were alleged to have been involved in a military coup. Daba and others were summarily executed and later falsely reported to have escaped while in chains and being transported to Georgetown prison. No one ever heard from Daba and others. Mr. Sonko also led an operation to execute the alleged November 11th coupists who were summarily executed in cold blood in the early days of the young military Junta. Among other high profile cases Ousman Sonko has been linked to involves the killing of Almamo Manneh; the disappearance of Journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh, abduction of Ebou Jobe and Alagie Ceesay, the execution of Mile II 9 prisoners, the 40 Ghanian citizens, the arrest, detention without trial of many innocent Gambians and the recent torture and killing of Solo Sandeng and United Democratic Party executive leadership who were protesting to demand the release of Solo Sandeng “dead or alive”.
Mr. Sonko consistently got rewarded for his crimes and is said to have been enjoying some lucrative business operations in the Gambia involving imports and exports from Europe and the Middle East. For 22 years Ousman Sonko has knowingly, willfully and illegally participated and committed crimes against Gambian citizens. He swore to an oath to protect, defend and impartially execute his duties to the state and Gambian people. He was never under duress or forced to do anything that he was not fully aware of. He voluntarily served the dictator at his will and enjoyed every minute of his luxury tenure within the Jammeh regime.
Ousman Sonko therefore, violated not only Gambian constitution on crimes against citizens but also international conventions against torture and state sanctioned political assassinations. Ousman Sonko cannot carry out illegal orders and commit crimes against Gambians only to run away from the same regime and seek sanctuary in the West. He cannot be treated as an ordinary asylum seeker and there is no evidence that if he had remained in the Gambia he would be persecuted or harmed by the very regime he has willfully served for over two decades. In fact, precedence indicates that such a high profile figure like him would have been redeployed to another cabinet position or send away as an ambassador to another country to keep him away from power especially given his first-hand knowledge of state operation.
The Swedish authorities must not take Ousman Sonko’s case lightly. In fact, if they are serious about combating crime and reduce number of refugees fleeing to Europe from Africa, they must begin to help African nations to deal with state operatives like Ousman Sonko. Gambians are encouraged to explore every avenue to bring legal suits against Ousman Sonko and the likes regardless of where they seek protection. This idea of willfully committing crimes against Global citizens for decades and run away when the tides turn against an individual must be stamped out. The only way to use that as a deterrent is to set an example to people like Ousman Sonko. His role and knowledge of heinous crimes against humanity committed by the Jammeh regime is simply too great to treat him as another refugee. He is, as described else where equivalent to Saddam Hussein’s Chemical Ali. His profile must be elevated to that status because that is how much Gambian blood he has on his hands.