Despite President Yahya Jammeh’s threat to “kill troublemaking Mandinka protesters,” United Democratic Party today hold protest outside the High Court in Banjul. Mr. Jammeh last week renewed his tirade on majority Mandinka ethnicity, threatening to “kill them like ants if they dare protest.”
As shown in the embedded video, calabash-holding women sang praises of their remanded leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe. The UDP leadership and others remain in detention since their arrest on April 16th when they protested peacefully against torture of opposition youth protesters. They have since been slapped with trump up charges, with the courts denying them the right to bail.
But protesting women refuse to run out of steam. As a result, they travel to Banjul to cheer up the political detainees as they battle their case before Jammeh’s mercenary foreign judge.
The women’s defiance is felt in their songs. In this video, the women sing in Mandinka thus: “Nmanta dawoda, Julia ye nsang ne Darboe. Mbeye jang Jula ye nsang ne Darboe. [We’re not going anywhere, Trader Darboe. We’re here for you. You bought us (literally means we owe you a lot), Trader Darboe].“
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