Darboe Honors UDP’s Fallen Heroes at 30th Anniversary, Calls Their Sacrifices a Legacy to Celebrate

By Seedy Jobe

ANM Ousainu Darboe, the party leader and secretary general of the United Democratic Party, paid tribute on Sunday to the men and women who endured imprisonment, violence, and, in some cases, death during the party’s three-decade history, telling thousands of supporters gathered in Brikama that the anniversary was as much about sacrifice as it was about celebration.

“We are not mourning them; we are celebrating them,” Mr. Darboe said, reflecting on party members who died during years of political struggle and those who remain alive.

Mr. Darboe, the UDP’s secretary general and party leader, delivered the remarks at the party’s 30th anniversary rally at Brikama SSP. The gathering drew thousands of supporters, members of allied groups, political party leaders and representatives, as well as members of the news media.

Much of Mr. Darboe’s address was devoted to recounting some of the most difficult episodes in the UDP’s history, particularly during the 22-year rule of former President Yahya Jammeh.

He recalled Sept. 22, 1996, as one of the party’s darkest days, saying UDP supporters were ambushed at Denton Bridge and several young party members, including Fa Badjo Darboe and Kebuteh Jafuneh, were tortured. Others, he said, did not survive the political violence of that era.

The following day, Mr. Darboe said, more than 70 injured people were brought to his home.

He also recalled the arrest and beating of Amadou Sanneh by agents of the National Intelligence Agency that same month, saying Mr. Sanneh had been targeted because he did not support the governing Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction, or APRC.

Mr. Darboe said the party was recounting those experiences not simply to revisit the past, but to remind younger Gambians of the sacrifices made by people who challenged authoritarian rule.

He pointed to a confrontation at Fass Njaga Choi, where he said police had refused to grant the UDP a permit to hold a political meeting. Party officials decided to proceed without a public-address system, he said. When police ordered them to return to Banjul, Mr. Darboe recalled telling officers that they would leave only if they were arrested and taken away.

Mr. Darboe portrayed that confrontation as an important moment in breaking the climate of fear that had taken hold under Mr. Jammeh’s government.

He also cited events at Chamoi Bridge, accusing the authorities at the time of trying to implicate UDP supporters in incidents that could have been used to weaken or dismantle the party. He thanked Binta Sabally, Sarjo Kunjang Sanneh and Fatou Darboe for their roles during that period.

But some of Mr. Darboe’s most pointed remarks concerned Solo Sandeng, the UDP activist whose death in state custody in April 2016 became a defining moment in the opposition campaign against Mr. Jammeh.

Mr. Sandeng and other activists had demonstrated for electoral reforms. His arrest and subsequent death prompted Mr. Darboe and other senior UDP figures to take to the streets demanding answers, leading to their own arrests and imprisonment.

Mr. Darboe described Mr. Sandeng as someone who had sacrificed himself in the struggle for political change. He also remembered Lang Marong, Modou Ngum, Kafu Bayo, Nyanging Bojang, Babucarr Camara and Falang Sonko among those who, he said, paid a heavy price.

Nearly a decade after the events of 2016, Mr. Darboe said, some of the changes those activists sought have yet to be fully realized. He singled out the Public Order Act, arguing that restrictions imposed under the law remain an obstacle to political rights and genuinely free electoral competition.

He also invoked the killing of student demonstrators in April 2000 and the arrests of UDP members at Fass Njaga Choi, presenting those episodes as part of a broader history of resistance that ultimately contributed to the political change of 2016.

The anniversary gathering was not solely an exercise in remembrance. With The Gambia preparing for a presidential election on Dec. 5, Mr. Darboe used the occasion to turn the party’s history toward its present political ambitions.

He said the UDP was pursuing the aspirations of its fallen members alongside its alliance partners and called unity essential to the opposition’s prospects in the coming election.

Mr. Darboe urged Gambians to reject ethnic divisions and other differences as they consider the country’s political future, portraying the December election as a consequential moment and calling for the removal of President Adama Barrow through the ballot box.

He also offered glimpses of the priorities he said would guide a UDP administration. Mr. Darboe pledged greater representation for persons with disabilities, including appointments to senior government positions, and promised increased support for farmers and a stronger emphasis on agriculture.

Still, the dominant theme of his speech was the party’s past — and the people whose sacrifices, he said, made its 30th anniversary possible.

For Mr. Darboe, remembering them was not an act of mourning but a reaffirmation of the political cause for which they struggled.

Three decades after the UDP’s founding, he told supporters, their unfinished work now belonged to those who remained.