A JOINT REFLECTION ON THE SOCIO-HISTORIC STUDY TOUR AND RESEARCH TRIP TO BISSAU

 A JOINT REFLECTION ON THE SOCIO-HISTORIC STUDY TOUR AND RESEARCH TRIP TO BISSAU

BY FABACK GIBBA AND LAMIN MARENA

On July 23rd, 2023, under the tutelage of DR. Ensa Touray, we departed for Guinea Bissau formerly known as Portuguese Guinea in our quest to obtain and learn from a plethora of valuable socio-historical facts and people within the particular West African Country, but solely within the capital (Bissau).

Pictorials of our departure

The endeavor which is, of course, a customary and consistent summer activity under the guardianship of Dr. Touray of the University of The Gambia History Department often introduces University of The Gambia students to various social and historical realities of different countries (Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal) through similar visits.

After going through southern Senegal, we peacefully and happily arrived at our base in Bissau on the very night of July 23rd, welcomed by one of our tour guides and sole host, Samba Antonio Mendes. For many, this was their first step in Guinea Bissau.

The following day, July 24th was purposely utilized for all the entourages to rest and settle down after a tedious but joyful journey. This was a day many of us had seen Bissau during the day, and it was also the moment we started registering the multiple socio-cultural similarities and differences between the two African countries (The Gambia and Guinea Bissau).

The truism in the Mandinka mantra “Africa beh killing” (African countries are the same) overtly manifested as we vividly observe the movement, interactions and behaviours of various people in the host community. If not the language barrier, it would have been tough to spot out the differences. This commensurate with the fact that our differences (greater Senegambia region) are man-made through the crafting of national boundaries and colonialism.

Contrary to the widely held perception of many Gambians, we found out that Bissau’s infrastructure and drainage system are arguably developed than that of Banjul albeit the development challenges both cities faced. Roots of colonialism are highly characterized through the existence of various historical or colonial buildings. We also observed that the people of Bissau cherished and give attention to Guinea Bissau based artists cum musicians and their songs compare to The Gambia which is a hub for many foreign songs. Notwithstanding, songs produced by Gambia’s Jaliba Kuyateh is one of the rare foreign songs that gained prominence in Bissau. The West African capital (Bissau) is also bustling perhaps due to the existence of many bars and other business activities.

On July 25th, we visited Fortaleza D’amura (Fortress of Amura) in Bissau. The fort which was built in 1753 by the Portuguese forces as part of their military strategies is the host of Bissau’s military museum and various Mausoleums and tombs of legendary figures (Amilcar Cabral, Nino Viera, Kumba Yala, Malam Bacai Sanyang and Titina Sila). Notwithstanding, it is noteworthy that the forts were built before the erection of the present which itself has undergone series of renovations.

Standing at the gate of Amura Fort waiting for an escort

Fortunately, we were led by senior military personnel who patiently and graciously took us through the history of the fort and the historical items present on or in it.

Erected with a decorative glass structure with white walls is the Mausoleum of Amilcar Cabral, a Pan-Africanist, agronomist, theoretician, poet, revolutionary and the undisputed architect and sole leader of PAIGC whose achievements and contribution to the struggle of independence in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde gained an unmatched recognition.

The influential personality and the coiner of “tell no lies, claim no easy victories” did not live to witness the political independence of his home country; the land he selflessly strived hard for with sheer determination.

Like Sylvanus Olympio, Juvenal Habyarimana, Anwar Sadat, Cyprien Ntaryamira, Samuel Doe, Marien Ngouabi, Muammar Gaddafi, Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara, he was assassinated on January 20th 1973 (eight months before Guinea Bissau’s independence) by some disgruntled militants of his own party. The guilty Inocencio Kani, the sole assassin of Cabral is heretofore believed to have been working with Portuguese agents.

Beside the large and decorated mausoleum housing, the remains of the widely celebrated Amilcar Cabral, is a plethora of brass plaques portraying the graves of his fellow compatriots.

Senior military officer narrating histories of various former leaders of Guinea Bissau

Inside the mausoleum of Amilcar Cabral

Built next to Cabral’s mausoleum is the triangular-shape mausoleum of Joao Bernardo Nino Vieira, the former president of Guinea Bissau who ruled the country from 1980 to 1999 except on the 14th May, 1984 to 16th May, 1984. He also served as the President of the country from 1st October, 2005 to 2nd March, 2009 after his return from exile.

Faback Gibba standing at the door of Nino Vieira's mausoleum

The one time military ruler was assassinated in the early hours of 2nd March, 2009 by armed men who were believed to be members of the country’s arm forces, setting a record as the first Guinean President to be assassinated while serving.

Lies rightly next to the mausoleum of Nino Vieira is the tomb of another former president in the person of Kumba Yala who served as a President, starting from 2000 until his disposition in 2003 in a bloodless predawn military coup led by General Verissimo Correia Seabra.

Faback Gibba and Alieu K Darboe standing beside the tomb of Kumba Yala

From the Mausoleums and tombs, we visited the military museum situated in the same fort; embedded and well-kept in various rooms and outside the rooms are pictorials of various events, people, and concrete weapons and other items that were used during the revolution for independence. However, the fort also hosts some recent military weapons as it currently serves as a military base for the army.

Amilcar Cabral's car

It was an hour-long educative and interactive session we had at the fort albeit the existence of language barrier by dint of the efforts employed by our hosts and our sole interpreter.

Progressively, July 26th, 2023, we visited the headquarters of the mighty Partido Africano da Independencia da Guiné e Cabo Verde (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) abbreviated as PAIGC. Amazingly, the busy political building is closely built around the Presidential palace. The visitation is necessitated by the fact that  the party and its founder's  efforts are historically significant and well tied on the objectives and aspirations of the party since its formation by the iconic Amilcar Cabral in 1956.

Some militants of the party including some of the top brass wholeheartedly welcomed us at the entrance of the headquarters. There was a moment of introduction and some few narrations by some top brass of the party.

Upon our entrance, we toured parts of the political building and interacted and share with the hosts. We were honoured to be introduced to the attendees of the ongoing meeting or conference-like convergence at the time as visitors from the University of The Gambia. Additionally, we were given a platform to address the convergence which was brilliantly done by Alieu K Darboe on behalf of the entire group. Apolitically speaking to the gathering, he urged the party militants and the people of Guinea Bissau and Africa in general to promote unity, pay less attention to the political and tribal differences, and work closely together to achieve the collective objectives of all Africans. He also sent a congratulatory message to the party and their various victorious candidates of the recently concluded parliamentary election and wished them well for their ensuing endeavours.

We later on proceeded to having a seminar with some of the key inspirational figures of PAIGC in our quest to gain more insight or understanding of issues with historical leaning. Notably among them was the living legendary figure, General Foday Gassama who is honoured and recognized for his consistent patriotism, honesty and dedication to the curse of Guinea’s liberation struggle and their development in toto. A former military general who witnessed the revolution is also believed to partake in series of peacekeeping missions solely within Africa. After an hour long seminar, other forms of interaction and photo session followed.

General Foday Gassama and Faback Gibba

In front of both the Presidential palace and the PAIGC headquarters is the Portuguese made monument standing at the centre of a famous roundabout. The black star on top of the famous monument symbolizes the victory of Guinea Bissau over their erstwhile colonial masters.

 

Amusingly in the following two days, we had series of activities including football matches, internal seminar and random visits within the city.

The football match which was played at the nearby mini stadium was a match between two teams that were carved from the entourage. Named as Rain United F.C. and Anti-Rain United F.C. respectively based on a special and jovial reason, the two sides had an entertaining moment. However, the scoresheet frowned at Anti-Rain as they suffered from a 6:2 humiliation from Rain.

The night seminar which was moderated by Faback Gibba gave platforms to five brilliant individuals whose discussions were centred on very interesting topics. One after the other, Muhammed S. Bah spoke on the importance of discipline in the education system; Lamin Tamba made a deliberation on the topic “what kills intellectualism in Africa”; Omar S.H. Drammeh spoke on “culture as a form of identity.”; Wula Jatta also highlighted “the role of science and technology”; and Lamin Marena finally gave an account of “why nations fails.”

On the early hours (00:30) of July 29th, we left Bissau for the Gambia through Cassamance. Reaching at the Guinea Bissau and Senegal border at approximately 6:00 a.m, we got the chance to pray Fajr prayer at a mosque around the border before having the greenlight to continue with our journey. At 10:45 a.m. we reached Baila village in Cassamance where we met a stiffed roadblock. We learnt that the masterminds of the roadblock places logs on the road solely as a protest against the perceived maltreatment of Senegal’s opposition leader, Ousman Sonko of Pastef. After helplessly and desperately spending several hours around the “untouchable” logs waiting for either the custodians of the logs or the Senegalese arm forces to discard the logs for our passage, we luckily gained the support of the arm forces that removed the logs and escorted us away from the zone. After a few minute drive, we dismayingly discovered another roadblock. Perturbed to the core as a result of missing the trio meals of the day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and spending unnecessary time on the way, we also felt that we would remain helpless and stagnant on the lonely highway as no signs of aid were waving at us. There was an absence of a party to negotiate the possibility of our passage with. The situation further instilled in us fear, desperation, anger, hunger and thirst which gave birth to a risky alternative to the mayhem we were facing.

With a revolution-like mind-set, the ladies among us were urged to stay in the buses while the men forcefully remove the logs from the highway albeit the rain showers at the time.

We bravely removed the logs till we met the last and the biggest heap. Furiously and violently standing there with their jujus, cutlasses, knifes, petrol and match box were the custodians of the very sacred logs we forcefully removed. To their surprise and in our quest to avert the worst which was potentially going to happen at that dangerous juncture, it was unanimously agreed for Dr. Touray, under whose tutelage we were under, to negotiate and explain to the armed men what our overall objectives were.

Dr. Touray posited to them the rationale behind the removal of the “untouchable” logs and put to them the multifaceted relationship between the people of Senegal and the Gambia. This position and the ensuing ones by the senior History lecturer, initially remained futile as the men were hell-bent on punishing us for our rare action they perceived as trespass and disrespectful towards their pursuit.

To my surprise and perhaps for many as well, I saw a lone woman in the midst of those armed men holding a bucket of petrol and showing a gigantic determination to light up fire. Facilitated by the shock of seeing an African woman with zero mercy, I made a rhetorical position by asserting “is this woman married?” The act of hers is not typical to a common African woman.

After series of extensive negotiations, we were allowed to leave with our buses minutes after allowing all other vehicles in the queue (front and back) to leave. This was at 8:30 p.m. exactly. At that unstoppable and hungry state, we thankfully proceeded with our hectic journey home.

Despite some challenges, it was an educative, interactive and joyful experience from the start to the end of the journey. We wish that students of the University of The Gambia are given such opportunities to explore and be introduced to valuable facts and experiences.