THE GAMBIA: TOP POLICE OFFICER FIRED

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANJUL 000217

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DAKAR PLS PASS DAO, ODC, AND RAO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINS ASEC GA
SUBJECT: THE GAMBIA: TOP POLICE OFFICER FIRED

REF: BANJUL 205 ET AL

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH STAFFORD, REASON 1.4 (B AND D)

DISMISSAL OF SENIOR POLICE OFFICER
--------------


1. (C) On April 25, the GOTG announced the dismissal of the
country's senior police officer, Inspector General of Police
Musa Mboob and the selection of his deputy, Benedict Jammeh,
as his successor. The announcement omitted any mention of the
reasons for Mboob's removal, but a knowledgeable journalistic
source told Ambassador that Mboob was the victim of a rivalry
with Armed Forces Chief of Defense Staff (CHOD) Colonel Lang
Tombong Tamba. According to our contact, Tamba had
engineered Mboob's removal by complaining to President Yahya
Jammeh about alleged corrupt practices by Mboob and
portraying him as disloyal; Jammeh responded by ordering
Mboob's dismissal.

CONVOLUTED TALE OF ABSCONDING MARABOUT
--------------


2. (C) Ambassador raised with source the convoluted story run
by U.S.-based online anti-GOTG "journals" that the immediate
cause of Mboob's departure was his failure to apprehend a
marabout (traditional Muslim "holy man") who had recently
absconded with funds supplied by Jammeh to produce the herbal
elixirs used in his HIV/AIDS and asthma treatment programs
(reftel). (NOTE: According to these reports, the marabout
fled with the money to the Senegalese city of Kaolack; Mboob,
ordered by Jammeh to track down the marabout and return him
to The Gambia for prosecution, failed in his mission, as
Senegalese authorities refused to hand over the marabout to
the Gambian police. END NOTE) Our source responded that the
reported absconding of the marabout with Jammeh's money and
Senegalese authorities' refusing to surrender him were based
on fact and may well have provided CHOD Tamba with further
ammunition to use with Jammeh in seeking Mboob's ouster.

COMMENT
--------------


3. (C) The new Inspector General of Police hails from the
President's native village of Kanilai, and his appointment --
and Mboob's dismissal -- underscores the President's ongoing,
deep-seated concern to ensure loyalty at senior levels of his
government's security, law enforcement, and military
institutions, especially following the foiled coup plot here
in March 2006. Judging from our source's remarks, CHOD
Tamba succeeded in convincing the President that Mboob's
loyalty -- as well as his competence -- was questionable and
that his removal was in order. Mboob was well-disposed
toward the Embassy and attentive to our security concerns; in
our previous dealings with his successor, we have found him
generally responsive. END COMMENT


STAFFORD