US Charges Two Men Over Failed Gambian Coup

Less than a week after a group of self-designated "Freedom Fighters" stormed Gambia's presidential palace in an attempt to stage a coup against the country's longstanding President Yahya Jammeh, the US has brought charges against two Gambian men for trying to overthrow the notorious dictator.

Cherno Njie, a 57-year-old Texas resident of Gambian descent, and Papa Faal, a 46-year-old Minnesota resident with dual US-Gambian citizenship, have been charged with conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act, which outlaws plots against nations at peace with the US, and conspiring to possess firearms for the purpose of crime and violence. The men are set to appear in court today; Njie in Maryland where he is being held, and Faal in Minnesota.

"The United States strongly condemns such conspiracies," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. "With these serious charges, the United States is committed to holding them fully responsible for their actions."

According to a criminal complaint filed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), both men traveled separately to the country's capital city of Banjul last month with the aim of overthrowing Jammeh's government, while the leader was traveling abroad. The alleged conspirators later returned to the US after the coup failed on on December 30.

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The complaint accuses Njie of financing the activities as well as leading the plot to overthrow Jammeh and planning to take the interim leadership following the fall of the regime. Njie reportedly was not present at the presidential palace during the early morning attack, which escalated when gunfire broke out between coup plotters and Gambian forces loyal to the regime.

Faal is one of about a dozen conspirators suspected of actually carrying out the coup. Over the summer, he was among a group that reportedly purchased equipment and weapons such as firearms, automatic rifles, body armor and night-vision goggles, ahead of the attack.

VICE News has confirmed the plot was largely planned by dissident ex-soldiers living outside of Gambia, including the UK and US, who traveled to the West African country shortly before the attack.

According to the criminal complaint, the goal of the coup was "to restore democracy to The Gambia and to improve the lives of its people," without killing any Gambians in the process.

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Initially, there were conflicting witness accounts of the series of events before and during the coup, but the FBI criminal complaint sheds new light on what happened on December 30. According to the document, the conspirators entered Gambia — expecting assistance from others still residing in the country — and met outside of the presidential palace, splitting into two teams.

The team tasked with approaching the palace, where the president lives, fired the first shot, which was then met with heavy gunfire from surrounding guard towers, the complaint said. The clashes resulted in the reported injuries and deaths of at least four assailants, although sources said both sides took a toll. Faal and others who survived managed to flee across the border into Senegal — which surrounds the coastal country to the north, south, and east.

Upon entering the Senegalese capital of Dakar, Faal went to the US Embassy where he gave an interview before making his way back to the US, officials said. He was later interviewed again by the FBI at the airport in Washington DC.

After news of the coup broke, the US State Department condemned what they called an attempt to overthrow the government through "extra-constitutional means," and called on all sides to "refrain from further violence."

Jammeh — who rose to power in 1994 through a coup of his own — returned from his trip abroad to growing fears in the country of a harsh backlash. The leader, who has never shied away making bold statements, including claims he had the cure for AIDS and would rule Gambia for "one billion years," has stoked those fears by vowing to punish anyone who attacks his country.

"Nobody can also destabilize this country. So anybody who comes to attack this country, be ready because you are going to die no matter who you are and who backed you,'' Jammeh said. "We will get to the bottom of this and we will not spare anybody. Enough is enough. They want to destroy our country. We will destroy them."

Jammeh maintains the attack was not a military coup and instead referred to the coup plotters as a "terrorist" group backed by unnamed foreign powers. He has denied the involvement of members of the armed forces in the plot, and said his forces remained loyal. Despite this statement, local reports indicate that several senior and junior military officials have been arrested and interrogated for their role in the attack.

At least 25 others have reportedly also been arrested since the coup, including family members and contacts of suspected coup plotters and port authority officials who may have assisted in shipping weapons for the conspirators.

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After arrest of alleged— Jeffrey Smith (@Smith_RFKennedy)January 5, 2015

Growing fears of a backlash have been predicated on events following an earlier coup attempt in 2006, when Jammeh reportedly struck back with arrests and mass executions. A second overthrow attempt in 2009 resulted in the execution of several senior military officials. Jammeh's regime has frequently been accused of silencing critics, controlling the media, and torturing dissidents.

"Yahya Jammeh's Gambia is the most deplorable dictatorship you've never heard of," Jeffrey Smith, an advocacy officer at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, told VICE News. "Torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings have been so commonplace over the past two decades that such instances barely register on the international radar."

According to Smith, the international political community has rarely challenged Jammeh's routine human rights abuses, which has only served to further "embolden his brutality." This trend was interrupted last fall following the enactment of Gambia's new anti-LGBT law, which made headlines for its discrimination against same-sex couples who can now face life in prison for simply being gay. In response, the European Union cut aid to the country in December, while the US removed Gambia from a trade agreement.

But Smith believes America could play a much bigger role in restoring democracy to the West African state, saying: "The US government should focus efforts on organizing an all-inclusive national conference in The Gambia, along with regional allies like Senegal and Ghana, to draw up a road map for the country's transition to democracy and respect for human rights."

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Follow Kayla Ruble on Twitter: @RubleKB