It was on Thursday 30th of July 1981 that the peace and tranquility in The Gambia was shaken, life came to a stand still and gun shots replaced the sounds of the birds that occupied the wetland around our neighbourhood of Hopkinson “Tann” as its locally called.

“LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION! LONG LIVE KUKOI SAMBA SANYANG AND THE Revolution” was the sound that came from Radio Gambia in Mile 7.

As a young boy, I was informed that there was a coup d’etat led by one Kukoi Samba Sanyang, a Marxist revolutionary.

The coup attempt occurred while President Jawara was visiting London to attend the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer, and was carried out by the leftist National Revolutionary Council, composed of Kukoi Samba Sanyang’s Socialist and Revolutionary Labour Party (SRLP) and elements of the Field Force, a paramilitary force which constituted the bulk of the country’s armed forces.

President Jawara requested military aid from Senegal, which deployed 400 troops to The Gambia on 31 July.
By 6 August, some 2,700 Senegalese troops had been deployed, defeating the rebel force.

Between 500 and 800 people were killed during the coup and the ensuing violence.

In 1982, in the aftermath of the 1981 attempted coup, Senegal and The Gambia signed a treaty of confederation. The Senegambia Confederation aimed to combine the armed forces of the two states and to unify their economies and currencies.

After just seven years, The Gambia permanently withdrew from the confederation in 1989.

Having lived at the house of the then Inspector General of Police, the late Alhaji Abdoulie Mboob, who played a big role in foiling the coup, we had many of the extended family staying with us.

Staying on the same road with a state Minister, Hon. MC Cham and a senior dispenser, Mr Krubally, I saw it all from security officers running around, to ambulances plying up and down carrying the injured. Looters carrying goods from stores and shops in Half Die area and rebels occupying the wetland area as hideout.

Tambajang was said to have been securing the Central Bank whilst hell broke loose in other parts of the country.

There was rumours that some members of the Jawara family were held hostage by the rebels.

Mustapha Danso, a convicted paramilitary officer, was executed for his part in the killings which occurred during the 1981 coup attempt. The likes of Alieu Sallah were put into custody for long period of time.

We recognised the sacrifice of the Senegalese security, Gambian security men who stood up to see to it that normality returned in the small land of The Gambia.

May all those who lost their lives be granted the highest heavens.

By Ebrima Jawo