Latest from The Jammeh Show: Yahya Jammeh Settling for Violence

Gambian General Ousman Badji
Ready to take on West Africa 

By deciding to impose a State of Emergency in The Gambia yesterday, all in a desperate bid to prevent the January 19th Inauguration of President-Elect Adama Barrow, Yahya Jammeh, the country's long term dictator, seems to have finally battened the last door on peace in his small and beautiful country.

We will Fight to the Last Man

Throughout his 22 year rule and even during the current conflict, Yahya Jammeh has shown himself to be a man with the mentality of a nail. The only thing a nail understands is a hammer. ECOWAS and the rest of the world wanted a peaceful resolution to the Gambian crisis, but as it stands, the West African community will soon have no other option, but to hammer Jammeh very hard, so that he can realize that being the president of a country does not make that country your personal property and that multilateral agreements between nation states are not comedic jokes.

Like Laurent Gbagbo, Hosni Mubarak, Charles Taylor, Muammar Ghaddafi, Idi Amin and Blaise Campaore, to name a few, Yahya Jammeh is probably going to join the ranks of those infamous African leaders who could never believe that their time was up, but had to be dragged violently out of power. 

The Jammeh Show

It is very admirable that West African leaders are no longer willing to stand aside, while one of their colleagues treats the people of his country as if their rights were subordinate to his individual ambition. We truly hope that Jammeh survives the likely impending invasion of his country. However, this action  could still be avoided if Jammeh sees reason and understands the futility of trying to fight against the combined military might of the West African Subregion.

Goats Fed Up

Jammeh is however a stubborn man. He is also a traditional man. Some may even call him primitive. He is a man with supreme belief in his own invincibility and is very superstitious. He also believes that he has mystical and supernatural powers. This is a man who truly believes he can cure AIDS, a disease whose cure continues to elude the greatest scientific minds of this century, in spite of the billions of dollars that have been spent in just trying to control its impact. If Jammeh believes he can cure AIDS, a feat which has eluded the brightest minds in the world, why can't the president believe in the self delusion that no force in the world can defeat him in The Gambia.

Even as warnings come from the entire leadership of West Africa, the African Union, the United Nations Security council and from members of his own cabinet ministers and his diplomats, the Gambian tyrant remains steadfast, wanting to show his supporters that he is not a coward. He has testicles of steel.

Yahya Jammeh may have seriously bitten more than he can chew. Having been a West African leader for so long, he knows that most threats of military intervention are in many cases not followed by action, but with his arrogance and public challenges, he seems to be making a bad miscalculation. Jammeh should realize that West Africa has a history of backing up their threats with action in some cases, as they did in Liberia and Sierra Leone.  Jammeh's position is very similar to that taken by Sierra Leone's military strongman Johnny Paul Koroma during his ill fated military insurrection in that country. With Jammeh having pulled some publicity stunts throughout the past few weeks, West African leaders are now growing convinced that the only way to stop this madman is through the use of force.

Our sources in The Gambia report of turmoil within the ranks of the military. Jammeh loyalists and clans men are said to be keeping very close eyes on those who  they consider may not in favor of the delusional mission of their leader and Commander-in-Chief. Jammeh loyalists are reportedly being ritualistically washed in herbs and concoctions which they believe will make them bulletproof. The military Chief of Staff now masquerades openly with traditional amulets and beads over his military attire. If Jammeh and his allies are thinking that foreign forces are going to engage them in field combat, then they are not ready for the terror that will rain down on them if they do not abandon their clownish leader and work with Senegal to ensure that the beautiful country is left intact.

Probably the only peaceful outcome to this quagmire will come from the military deciding not to fight for Jammeh, but instead try to prevent unnecessary chaos in the country, by siding with people against the delusional tyrant. But as things currently stand, "The Jammeh Show" continues.